Oh My Biker Gods!
by The Third Biker Scholar
Summary: The name's Throttle, and I'm from the Martian Gods Help Line. We got your call and I've been authorized by the Almighty to grant you a Wish." Charley honestly thought she was going to faint...
1. Chapter 1

Had this idea and it wouldn't leave me alone. The image of our beloved bros as gods from the series Oh My Goddess. I love both series, so I wondered if maybe they would be good together. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing; I even rent my shoes.

Oh My Biker Gods!

Chapter 1: Introductions

_"There is no Fate. Fate is a made-up word that people created as the ultimate excuse for when they fail. There is no Fate, no path set in stone that you cannot escape. But there is Destiny. Destiny is a stroll through the woods, running across the beach, a trip down to the market. No real set path, a million ways to get there. And you will get there. Its the journey that counts, and that's Destiny._"-The Chronicles of Colleen Powell

Our story begins in a universe not so different from our own...

Three realms, (or rather, worlds), exist in the Universe: the Heavens, the UnderRealms (more commonly known as Hell), and the Prime Material Plane. The Heavens are the realm of the Almighty and gods and goddesses that serve His will; the UnderRealms are the domain of the Dark One , and the monsters, demons, and devils that work its will; the Prime Material Plane is the realm of all other mortals and spirits.

Reality is controlled by an enormous and complex computer system that was designed and built by the Almighty, named the Yggdrasil. It monitors, influences, manipulates, and/or controls every aspect of life in existance (whether the demons admit it or not). It is the creator of what is known as the System Force, the actual presence that acts on the Yggdrasil's will. Nothing is outside of the System Force's power, and it, and the Yggdrasil, are protected and preserved by the gods and goddesses of the Heavens.

The gods' purpose is to bring happiness to everyone around them. Toward that end, the Almighty had created the Heavenly Technical Help Line, designed to bring happiness to the mortals that live in the Prime Material Plane, especially those with great virtue but terrible misfortune. (While the name might change depending on where in the Universe the request is taken, it all goes to the same place in the end.) In most scenarios, a god or goddess appears before one that the system has deemed worthy and grants him or her one wish. The wish must be approved by the system, after which a contract is created between the mortal and the god and stored on the Yggdrasil system as a file. The System Force is then initialized to enforce the wish and to be sure that it keeps working for as long as the wish is meant to endure.

A seal exists between the demon world and Earth, named the Gate to the Netherworld. It was created by the gods and can only be broken by an instrument of the gods. As such, demons require a catalyst to manifest on earth, typically some form of 'black magic' or pure desperate need from a particular mortal that catches a demon's eye. The demons possess a system similar to Yggdrasil, named Nidhogg, that coordinates and moblizes the forces of the Dark One. As demons work toward the opposite end of the gods (they desire to bring misery and suffering to everyone around them), the total happiness on Earth must remain in balance. The demons also operate in a fashion similar to gods by creating contracts with humans and offering them wishes, but often at a price.

Of course, with the Heavens and the UnderRealm in direct competition for the mortals' wishes, professional sabotage is now a rigorous form of attack. Demon Hackers make hourly attempts to hack and corrupt Yggdrasil, resulting in what's known as System Bugs, little hiccups or distortions in reality. Mortals all across the Prime Material Plane tend to notice this as freak accidents, weird sightings, or feelings of deja vu.

Heaven and Hell strictly abide by an agreement to work through contracts and never kill each other, an arrangement formed after millenia of wars and fighting. The losses to both sides were simply so great that a ceasefire was called to ensure that all of Reality didn't collapse upon itself. This peace has lasted for more than 50,000 years, but soon, something is about to happen...

Something that could change peace into a war far more terrible than any that ever came before...

* * *

Throttle growled to himself in exasperation as he worked at the glowing terminal. The young Martian god hated this desk job. Chasing down bugs and glitches in the System was tedious work, but manning the Gods Help Line at the same time made it tedious and boring. He actually found himself missing the old days, when he'd been constantly out hunting Demons that had escaped to the Mortal world. Getting shot at, chased, and blown up was at least more lively than this.

Vincent had begged off from his shift at the last minute, claiming he had a hot date tonight, and hadn't Throttle been wanting some overtime? The Martian god shook his head at his own stupidity, feeling closed in by the walls of his, (he shuddered at the image of it), **office**. _I could be out cruising right now, maybe meeting up with Modo for a few drinks in Paradise, but no, I had to listen to Vinnie's whining._

A message icon suddenly blinked on his screen, and he startled a bit at the symbol it showed. The seal of the Almighty. He immediately clicked on it. Anything that bore that seal was straight from the top, the highest priority and clearance. Whatever this was, it was gonna be big.

And by the stars, it was big. He was to wait and answer the next incoming call on the Heavenly Technical Help Line, from a mortal no less! The caller was to be granted a Wish, a divine blessing of Heaven's Grace, and he was to make sure it went off without a hitch. No interference from Demon Hackers or misconstruing of the contract, no loop-holes for someone else to misuse for their own gain. In other words, he had to go and arrange things in person.

"I swear, I'm going to punch out that white-furred bastard when I get back," Throttle muttered. It had been well over six hundred years since he'd last went to the Mortal world. He went on ahead and pulled up the file for the mortal he was to go meet. _Hmm. Terran*, only 18 years old, college student, 320 IQ? _He whistled to himself. _Wow, that ranks up there with a lot of gods I know. Lets see, anything else I need to know-_

_**You have got to be kidding me**__. He was born under __**three**__ unlucky stars?_

He sat back in his chair, his eyebrows almost vanishing into his mane in surprise. _No wonder they want a personal representative to take his Wish. With that sort of bad luck, I'm amazed the kid's lived this long. _He looked over the file again_. Huh. And the kid, despite all that hellish fortune, still goes out of his way to help other people. I might actually enjoy talking with this Charley Davidson._ The Martian god smiled as he waited for the phone to ring.

* * *

"Uh-huh. Yeah, sure, I'll tell him to call. Okay, thanks, bye!" Charley Davidson huffed as she hung up the old fashioned dial-up phone. "Next time, I swear I'm telling that jerk Tomahawk to take his own messages," she muttered.

The girl leaned back against the wall of her tiny dorm room, closing her eyes in exhaustion. It had been a long day. First, she'd gotten woke up at the crack of dawn to do physical training by her insane dorm mates. She hadn't managed to get away from them until it was five minutes 'til class, and she'd had to run to get there on time, with no breakfast. Then six straight hours of college classes, with no lunch break. Then, right when she'd gotten a moment to herself to finally sit and eat, her dorm mates had found her-as they always seemed able to, no matter where she hid on campus-and dragged her off to another club fundraising event, food uneaten.

It wouldn't be quite so bad if that sort of thing wasn't a daily occurrence for the past five months!

Then the Auto club president, Foale, and vice president, Husky, had informed her that they were all going to this killer party tonight. When she'd protested, siting the massive amount of homework she had to do, Charley had then been nominated to clean the dorm from top to bottom. And get the mail, take out the trash, wash the dishes, and go shopping for tomorrow's breakfast. And answer all the social-butterfly Tomahawk's calls since his cell phone got flattened at a bike rally. After all, they'd said, she was a genius; it shouldn't take her long at all to finish her homework.

Yeah, right. Thanks to her insane friends, she'd nearly failed Martian Mythologies class due to being consistently tardy. She now had to write three-(three!)-fourteen-page long essays on the Martian Goddess of Water, from the Rat, Cave Mouse, and Sand Raider mythological points of view.

It had taken four hours to finish the housework, and she was now onto her last three pages of her last essay, thank you Almighty God. She was sore, tired, covered in dirt, dust, and grime, and all she dearly wanted right now was to grab a snack from the fridge and sleep for a few years.

And why, might you ask, would she put up with all that? The answer was simple. Charlene Davidson had gotten a scholarship to the most prestigious tech school in the United Planets Federation, the Brimstone Institute of Technology on Mars. She'd been ecstatic at the chance to go, at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from the absolute best in their feilds in engineering and physics.

Unfortunately, she had almost no money to cover any other expenses besides school supplies, and the currency exchange rate on Mars had nearly killed her budget on even that. She'd looked everywhere for a place to live on Mars and a job to pay for it, but only one thing had turned up. The Institute's Auto Club had its own dorm, and members could live there rent free! The Terran couldn't believe her good fortune. She immediately signed up and was approved to join, and had even shipped all her things ahead to the dormitory.

But then, upon arriving on campus, she found out that a huge mistake had been made.

The scholarship was indeed for Charley Davidson the girl, but the dorm was for men only. The Auto Club was one of the last remaining boys' clubs left on Mars, and had refused to admit females of any species for more than two hundred years. Women weren't allowed in the dorm for any reason whatsoever.

By the time she found this out, almost all her money had been spent on travel expenses. She had nowhere else to go, and no way to get home. So she raided some used clothing stores, pinned up her hair under a ball cap, and told the Auto Club's enrollment officer that they had gotten her name wrong, as it was Charley, not Charlene. She hated to lie, but she had no choice. It was this, or go homeless.

Besides, no one seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary about her. The Auto Club was mostly Martian Mice, with a few Sand Raiders in the mix, and none of them had ever met a Terran before. They didn't think anything of her odd reactions to them walking around mostly naked after a shower, or to their positively disgusting eating habits, or at how they almost never washed their clothes. They just thought their newest, youngest, and only Terran member was really shy. And probably gay, which was fine with them. (Mars had a much more relaxed view of homosexuality than Earth, so to them, it was no big deal.)

Oh well. Going over the past certianly wasn't going to help her deal with the present. She was ready to just close her eyes and sleep sitting up when she remembered that she had to call Tomahawk's pager to let him know about that last call. The girl groped for the phone, blindly dialing the number and waiting for it to ring. But she was surprised by actually getting an answer.

A voice both gravely and smooth (with a healthy dose of 'wet dream/fantasy' tone) answered, "Heavenly Technical Help Line, how can I help you?"

Her higher brain functions almost crashed to a halt._ Oh my God, that's the sort of voice that you'd willingly follow down to hell. _It was a deep, husky voice that sounded like black velvet being poured in her ears. Wait, he'd said something kind of important, right? She blinked in confusion before answering. "W-what? Oh, I'm sorry, I must have dialed the wrong number-"

"Don't worry, I'll be right with you to grant you your Wish. Just one second, okay?"

"What? No, wait, you don't understand, I don't think I have the right"-

The beautiful sound of a motorcycle engine interrupted her. The low rumble filled the room, its powerful base nearly shaking her down to the bones as it grew louder and louder. She glanced around, frantically trying to find the source of the noise when the only mirror in the room, a full length glass that hung on the back of her door, began to glow with white light. A sudden image filled it, and a hard burst of light came before a proud, classic black and chrome Harley Softtail came through it. And though it was gorgeous, an undeniable work of art, the rider was even more impressive.

She dropped the phone at the sight of him.

The rider was a tall Martian Mouse, with a black, sleeveless leather jacket, dark blue jeans, high black boots, and what looked like the softest tan fur she'd ever seen. He pulled the solid black helmet off his face, revealing a blunt muzzle, white buck teeth, and a mane of golden hair that brushed at his shoulders. Twin lines of darker gold fur ran from the center of his brow to the base of his antennae. Seven platinum and white gold studs hung from his ears, and she would have sworn he had a silver ring around the base of one of his antennae. He wore black framed glasses with green full-color lenses, and a pair of black, fingerless gloves on his hands. His long tail was twined around the seat bar, unwinding as he came to a stop near the foot of her bed.

And his body was built like God had decided to show off on the day he was born.

"Hey, there. Sorry to have startled you. Charley Davidson, right?"

_Dear god, the voice matches the body_. She couldn't help her stare as she tried to work her mouth. All the girl could manage was a slow nod as she absently hung up the old phone.

"The name's Throttle, and I'm from the Heavenly Technical Help Line, Martian Division. We got your call and I've been authorized by the Almighty to grant you a Wish."

* * *

* Terran: The actual scientific name for Humans on Earth, per the NASA archives. The term is derived from the actual Latin name for the world, Terra Firma (translation, 'solid ground'.) What, did you think we would really introduce ourselves to all the other aliens in the universe as 'Earthlings'?


	2. Chapter 2

Here we go, and on with the show!

Disclaimer: I do not own Biker Mice from Mars, nor anything about Oh! My Goddess.

Chapter 2

"A...a wish?" she said in blank shock.

He gave a slight nod. "That's right. Any Wish you want. If you want to be a billionaire, we can do that. If you want power or fame, piece of cake. Or if you wanted to destroy the world, we could do that too. But we prefer to not deal with people like that, you understand."

"Oh, of course not, that'd be horrible," she found herself saying automatically.

"Word of warning, though, you only get one Wish. So go ahead, ask for anything you like."

"Ah..." The girl shook her head hard to try and clear her mind. _I must be dreaming. I passed out from exhaustion and I'm having the weirdest dream of my life._

The Martian's mouth curled into a smile. "Nope, kiddo, you ain't dreaming."

She blinked at him. "Are you sure? Because I would have sworn you came out of that mirror, and that's not physically possible."

"Not if you use matter-light transposition technology," he answered, resting his elbows on the handlebars of his bike. "Energy is matter and matter is energy, right?"

She nodded, "Yes."

"So theoretically, you can change any matter into any form of energy you want, and transfer it any way you want, therefore reconstructing it any way you want. Its basic physics."

She blinked at him as her brain fought to process all that. "You'd need insane amounts of energy to do any of that."

Throttle just smiled. "I've got the means."

"Apparently," she said blankly. _No way. It can't be_, the logical side of her brain argued. _That's not possible. Ten bucks says its a prank. He probably got sent here by those jerks Foale and Husky for a laugh because they think I need to get laid. Damn if they don't have excellent taste. He's one hell of an actor, gotta give him that._

"No, its not a joke," Throttle said. "And I'm not acting. But hey, why would your friends send somebody over? You look like you could bag a decent girl if you wanted too, so what's the problem?"

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "You're joking, right?"

"No."

"Its not obvious?"

"No. Why, you got a looks complex or something?"

She found herself laughing. "No way. Looks shouldn't be that important to anyone. I just can't have a boyfriend right now."

"Ah. Boyfriend," he said in a tone of sudden understanding before going on. "So you're trying to focus on your studies to get graduated early, huh?"

"Something like that," she said, studying him. _It can't be. He can't be, but_-"Um, sorry if this sounds really rude, but do you have any sort of proof that you're a god"-

He started in surprise, "Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't do the introductions right, its been a long time since I talked to any mortals." He reached into a pouch on his belt and handed her a card. "Here you go. Throttle de Wryfyen, Martian god First Class, type two, license unlimited."

_A god with a business card? "_I'm Charley Davidson. Um, from Earth, college student." She studied the card. "What exact does 'first class' mean? Is it some kind of ranking?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah it is. Each god is assigned Class, Category, and Limitations. Class indicates power and skill in performing pure magic. First Class gods are held to a stricter standard regarding the prohibition to lie, and of course we can't steal, cheat, or any of the other cardinal sins. There are three Categories or Types for gods: First, which is Administration, Second, which is Commercial (deals with customers, like what I'm doing with you), and Special Duty, which includes the Combat Division. Limited/Unlimited indicates boundaries on permitted actions.

"I'm a First class, type two, so that means I'm one of the more powerful gods." His voice held no pride or vanity in it; he was simply stating a fact, like 'oh look, the sun is bright.' "Due to safety concerns regarding our enormous powers, we wear power limiters, usually in the form of jewelry, such as earrings or bracelets." His tail motioned towards the morning star earring he wore. "Its said that a First Class god at full power could easily destroy the Earth, if they're not careful." At her shocked look, he was quick to reassure her, "The closest that ever came to happening was that giant flood* around 5,000 years ago back on Earth, and we got that fixed pretty quickly. It would have gone faster, but we were swamped with Demon Hackers for 40 days, the rotten chumps.

"Gods also possess particular proficiencies in certain magical domains." He snorted a bit. "In plain English, it means that different gods are better at different things. Me, I like using light travel, so I use reflections to get around. I can make illusions too. My friend Modo, he's better at using metal; he can form a copy of himself from any amount of metal and then switch out with it to move from place to place. And lthough our primary power and energy comes from Heaven, we can also recharge in various ways." Throttle smiled. "Call me old-fashioned, but I just use plain old sleep to recharge. My friend Vinnie though, haha, he has to soak in hot water.

"Anything else you'd like to know?"

"Um, not that I can think of right now," she answered. Isn't this a little far to go for prank? _God or not, I'm not exactly being a gracious host here. The least I can do is make him comfortable_. "C-can I get you anything? Something to drink?"

Throttle couldn't help a small smile. _The guy's so nervous its making his voice higher. Poor kid_. "Water, if you got it."

"Sure!" Charley hurried to the fridge, trying to piece everything together in her mind. _Okay. There's a bike, in my room, and there's no way that beauty could possibly get up the stair or down the hall of this dorm without destroying something on the way in. Fact is, its too big. And there's a guy that just appeared in my room, that says he's a god, that he wasn't sent by- _

_Wait, how did he know-I didn't say anything out loud about Foale and those jerks sending him over! But he answered like I said it to his face. I know Martians have some mind tricks, but I don't think any of them can actually read minds without touching me with their antennae. No normal Martian anyway._

_And he came out of the mirror. Out. Of. The. Mirror... _

_I'm either really, really high, dreaming, or, or...Holy shit, there really is a god in my dorm room!_

Throttle put down the kickstand, resting his bike as he dismounted. He put his helmet on the seat bar, sitting down on the other side of the small table. Charley set two bottles of water in front of them, hands shaking in a sudden attack of nerves as she twisted off the caps. "H-here you go. I'm sorry its not fancier, I have no idea what to serve a god. Sir. My lord?" _What do you call a __**god**__?_

"No, no," Throttle immediately protested. "None of that. I don't hold with using all the titles and names. Throttle, please, just Throttle."

"Okay, Throttle." She had to take a deep breath to not start hyperventilating. How could all this be real?

And why in the world did his name sound _familiar_?

"Know what you want to wish for yet?" he asked.

"What?"

"Your Wish. It is what I'm here for."

Her jaw dropped in shock at the reminder and she blurted out the first thing she thought. "I have no idea."

Throttle leaned back in the chair, eyebrows going up in surprise as he looked at her from over the top of his shades. "Wow. That's a first. Normally people are jumping up and down trying to spit out everything they want." He shrugged, "But hey, if you want to take your time, go ahead. It'd probably be better if you did."

Charley nodded absently, her head positively swimming with information overload at this point. Her eyes drifted over to where his bike stood and her gaze locked on it. "Oh, she's a gorgeous one," the girl said softly.

"You like bikes?" he asked with a smile.

"Love them," she said, smiling. "My dream is to design and race the best bikes in the galaxy. But after seeing this beautiful girl," she stared at his bike like one would a lover, "they'd all look like her. I'll bet she's the most fantastic AI to grace the sands of Mars."

The bike didn't beep so much as chime as it gave what she could only assume was a 'thank you' to her compliment. Throttle smiled, "Flattery will get you anything with her."

"What kind of engine is she? What about the connecting rods, those don't look like any kind I've seen before. Hey, what kind of tension does that chain take? And what"-

"Hey, hey, one at a time, kid," he laughed. "Here, I'll walk you through the engine." He got up and stood by his bike, pointing out the various parts and pieces. Charley was an attentive student, asking dozens of intelligent questions and taking notes as fast as she could write in her battered green notebook. Throttle had to admit that he was impressed. Their talk soon turned to talking about bikes in general, then the intergalactic racing circuit, and from there to about everything. Time passed with the two laughing and joking like old friends.

Hours later, a glance at the clock made Charley startle. "Its two in the morning?"

Throttle blinked in surprise. "No kidding? Man, I didn't think we'd been talking that long."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you so long."

"Nah, no trouble," he waved it off. He found a smile, "I don't suppose you've thought of a Wish yet?"

She made a face at the reminder as she turned to get another bottle of water out of the fridge. "Nope, not at all."

"C'mon, Charley, surely you can think of something you want," he cajoled.

"Hey, I had other stuff on my mind. I mean, I can't remember the last time I had so much fun with a guy. I wish a god like you could be with me always, then I could have fun like this all the time."

Throttle laughed at the idea before he felt a telltale tingle over his forehead. His jaw dropped in shock. "Wha..." His voice died away as his antennae began to glow.

"But that's silly, right?"

The god's eyes turned white and glowing as the energy gathered around the room, the marks on his face beginning to glow too.

"No one could make a god do something like that."

The energy swirled around the Martian god, lifting him off the ground as it solidified into light. It crackled like lightning, objects all over the room lifting from the almost magnetic force. His bike revved and wailed at the sight of her master seeming to loose control, making Charley whirl to face him. "Throttle?"

His eyes were shining with bright light, and his head flung back to face the ceiling. The brilliant energy suddenly exploded upwards, a beam of light that punched through the ceiling and up to the sky, debris raining down.

* * *

*The story of Noah and the Flood, from the Old Testament in the Bible. God punished the wicked of the day by flooding the entire world; only a good man named Noah and his family were saved by building a huge ark to carry all the animals in the world. The flood lasted for 40 days.

...*grins*.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The energy died as quickly as it formed, leaving the god to collapse to the floor. Books and papers went flying in every direction as the force holding them up vanished.

"Throttle!" Charley ran to his side, checking him over for injuries. He was lying so still, what if he was hurt? What the hell had just happened to him?

He stirred slowly, a hand reaching to push his shades back on his muzzle. He blinked hard to try and clear his head. "Mmph. What in the Nine Hells hit"- He suddenly caught sight of the new hole in the roof and his eyes went wide in horror. "No. No fragging way!"

"Throttle? Are you okay? What _was _that? What happened?" Charley asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," the mouse lunged for the phone, " and I need to make a call." He punched in more numbers than Charley had ever seen used, making her wonder just who he was calling. "Hello? This is Throttle. Yeah, about that last transfer-

"What? The hell its final!-What do you mean, its already been accepted into the System? It can't be! But-Almighty One! You can't be serious!" He suddenly flinched as a muffled voice on the line got noticably louder. "But-yes, I heard her wish it...Yes, I know the policy, I"-

He winced at something the other person said. "Yes, sir. Yes. I will." He slammed the phone down, nearly breaking it in half. "Well, that just sucks."

"Is...is something wrong?" she asked hesitantly.

He stared at her in utter disbelief as the true depth of her actions were made clear to him. "You...you made a...Wish...for me to be here, on Earth, with you. For Always."

She blinked. "No I didn't."

"Oh yes you did."

"No I didn't!"

"Your exact words, and I quote, 'I wish a god like you could be with me always.'"

"I said 'could', not 'that's what I want'!"

"Well, you could, and you did!" He snapped. "The Wish you made's already been filed and accepted by the System. The Almighty said its too late to change it."

She stared at him. "You mean when I said I wanted you to be with me always"-

He gave her a look. "Yep. Honey, I'm home."

"But-but that's crazy! You didn't even get a say in this! They can't make you do something against your will, can they?"

The mouse stared at her in some surprise. "What part of, 'wish for anything you want', did you not understand?"

"But I-isn't there some way to cancel it?"

"'Fraid not. Once a Wish is filed and accepted into the System, it gets incredible power behind it. No one can resist it, not even an immortal. And truth is, I don't have all that much power to start with."

She frowned in confusion, "But you're a god. You said you're a first class!"

"I am! Was. Point is, I used to be a full god, but when I went to work as a type two god, I gave up most of my power to channel the Almighty's. And I wish gods had as much power as mortals think we do. Look, a tv can't get signal without an antennae, right? The antennae picks up the signal, and sometimes it even has to use a signal booster before it reaches the screen. I'm just an 'antennae'; all I do is transfer and file wishes to the Almighty."

"You-you mean you've just lost all your...your power?"

He flinched a bit, then gave her a tight smile. "Ah, don't worry about it. My job as 'antennae' is over. From now on, its just me and you."

The human knew her mouth was hanging open, but she couldnt' help it. A god was going to live with her. A gorgeous, Martian god with peircings and the most beautiful bike she'd ever seen, was going to live with her after she had stripped him of almost all his powers. He was going to live with her. Live...with...her...

Oh, no.

A tiny little sound escaped her, making him frown. "You okay?"

* * *

The main door slammed open, most of the Auto Club members piling in after a long night of partying. The noise went somehow unnoticed by the two upstairs.

* * *

That sound came out of her again, like the terrified squeak of a tiny mouse. "Charley?"

* * *

Foale and Husky were headed down the hall to their shared dorm when they noticed the light under Davidson's door. The black and red-furred mice exchanged surprised looks. The kid was a well-known genius; surely he wasn't still doing homework? They moved to check on their youngest member, actually starting to feel bad for making him work all night.

* * *

She tried to speak, but nothing was coming out. _Oh god, he can't live here! Here in this dump? We'd be jammed in like sardines! And there is no way we'd be able to keep my secret_-The girl tried to stand and the world spun wildly before it went suddenly dark.

"Charley!" Throttle easily caught the Terran before she hit the floor in a dead faint. He immediately ran a diagnostic spell over her, somewhat surprised he still remembered it after so long. The Martian scowled at what he saw. Extreme exhaustion from much too little sleep and too much work, damn near malnourished after three days with hardly anything to eat, a mild fever, clammy skin-

And a heart beating so fast for a moment he was honestly afraid she was having a heart attack. He laid her down on the bed, hurriedly starting to unbutton her shirt to use a calming spell on her body. He made it to the third button, exposing some kind of tight denim vest, when the door suddenly banged open.

The noise was enough to wake Charley, and she nearly jolted upright. Her movement unbalanced Throttle, and he had to catch himself with his hand on the other side of her body. To Husky and Foale, it looked like he was positioning himself over their youngest dorm mate.

Charley startled at how close the god's face was to hers. She had to swallow hard to get anything like thought back in her head when faced with someone so handsome. It took a moment before she noticed her two friends. "Um, this-this is not what it looks like!" she said in a panic, clutching her shirt shut.

"This is exactly what it looks like," Throttle murmured without humor as he really noticed the fatigue and exhaustion on her face.

"Thank god," Husky said firmly.

"What?" Both Martian and Terran said in surprise.

"Its about time!" Foale said happily. "Jeez, kiddo, we were starting to think you'd never find somebody. And just look at this fella! Real grade A material. Way to go, man!"

Throttle's jaw dropped in shock at the innuendo. Charley could barely work her mouth enough to speak, "I-I-ah...th-thank you?"

The two Mice exchanged grins before turning back to the tan mouse. "Now be sure you treat our Charley right! He might be young-"

"-and a bit of a geek-"

"-but he's a pretty good kid. Well, we'll just let you two carry on. Have fun!" They shut the thin door, their voices clearly carrying to the two within as they called out the news, "Hey, guys, guess what? Davidson finally got him some!"

The majority of the dorm gave a resounding cheer, whistles and catcalls filling the air. The girl felt her face flush bright red and she banged her head on the floor. "Shoot me. Please. Just kill me right now."

"Sorry, not in the deal," Throttle said as he straightened up. He pushed her back down when she tried to do the same. "Oh no, you stay right there."

"But I'm fine"-

"When's the last time you ate anything?"

She startled at the question. "Um, it was...sometime around seven, I think."

"What day?"

She flushed at his scolding tone, but was even more embarrassed at the fact that it was mostly deserved. "Yesterday."

"Around early morning, right?"

"Why do you even bother asking me a question if you already know the answer?" she groused.

"As long as you know the answer too, we should be fine," he said. He went and scanned the contents of her fridge, making a face at how little was in there. He brought over another bottle of water and a pack of crackers. "Its not much, but you need something in your stomach."

She took it without looking at him. "Thanks." She took a few bites of cracker before speaking again. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For everything," she said miserably. "For me making a stupid wish, for you having to baby-sit some human you just met, for locking you here, of all the places you could be. For an entire dorm full of guys that think we're an item. Want me to keep going?"

"Nope, that's enough for me," he said, a small smile taking any real sting from his words. "Look, we'll just make the best of this, alright? Besides, its kind of in our best interests."

She cocked her head at him. "What do you mean?"

"Because the force of the Wish works on us too. It'll start working anytime something tries to separate us. Even if we try to go away from each other, it'll force us back together."

If anything, she felt worse. "Sorry."

"Apology accepted, as long as you eat," he scolded. "You're so underweight, no wonder you dropped like that-" he paused and shook his head. "I swear, kid, with all the girly worrying, you're turning me into an old woman."

She found a smile. "Oh, somehow I doubt that."

"Woe to the unbelievers," he said jokingly. "Now c'mon, we can do this."

"I guess so," she said, a much more cheerful mood coming on her as some food finally hit her system. It immediately crashed at his next words, "So, where do I sleep?"


	4. Chapter 4

I would like to do a shout out to the greatest two writers in all of BMFM fandom. KLCthebookworm and Morning. Everything they write is amazing, and I miss reading new stories of theirs. So I love to go read their older stuff, it helps break writers block!

Oh, and to clear up some confusion for last chapter, Throttle did not succeed in unbuttoning her shirt, he was interupted before he could reach anything embarrassing. He still does not know Charley is female.

Disclaimer: Own what? What? I own something? News to me....

Chapter 4

Charley blearly opened her eyes as her alarm clock went off. She blinked hard as she realized that she had actually heard her clock go off. No insane friends had tried to jump her, woke her up, or dragged her off anywhere. For a second she was blank as to why that was, when she remembered the night before. She wondered if they were trying to give her and her--(oh god, she'd said Throttle was her **boyfriend)**--some privacy. _Oh, who cares?! I actually got to sleep 'til seven! Its a miracle!_

Of course, that miracle would feel even better if she'd gotten more than four hours of sleep. She and Throttle had been up for an hour longer trying to get things rearranged so that he could move in. Granted, he had no furniture, clothes, books, or anything else except his bike, so for the most part it was just moving things to make room for the bike in the room and him in her bed. He'd insisted that he was fine on the floor, but she wouldn't have it. It had to be some kind of bad karma to make a god sleep on the ground, she just knew it.

But then he'd refused to let her sleep on the floor, saying that he couldn't kick her out of her own bed. The argument had gone on long enough that he had finally swept her legs out from under her with his tail, caught her in his arms, and pinned her to the bed. He had practically ordered her to go to sleep. She'd been so shocked at his sudden grapple that all she could do was nod and pull the cover up over her shoulders.

Somehow, she had slept with him beside her and had not had a heart attack. Quite frankly, she was impressed at her fortitude.

The girl got out of the tangled covers, carefully making her way across the room so as to not wake him. She glanced back at him, stunned again at his good looks. Strong arms, a powerful chest, his torso long and lean, the rest of his body hidden under the sheets. Charley felt her face flush as she looked him over. His face was relaxed in sleep, almost giving him an innocent look, the shades off on the side table. _He's going to live with me. How is that supposed to work out? I can barely afford to keep myself fed, let alone him too. And I cannot see him working a college student's job. Man, what are we going to do?! _Charley had to shake those thoughts from her mind or she'd work herself into a migraine.

The girl glanced over to her school books, but remembered that with a cancelled class, today was completely free. She cocked her head, listening for the rest of her dormmates through the paper-thin walls. Some music still playing in Audi's room, light snoring from Varna's. But there was almost no other sounds at all. _They must all be out at other classes. Oh thank god!! I can finally take a shower!_

With a secret like hers, privacy was at a premium. And forget taking a shower with any other people around. Hell, she normally could only wash up wiht a bucket of soapy water and a washcloth. So this little blessing was about to be taken full advantage of. She almost skipped down the hall to the bathroom.

*&*&*&*&*&

Throttle stirred slowly as the sun found a way past the window's thin curtains. He groped blindly until he found his shades, slipping them back on his face. The god sat up and stretched, glancing around the small room. Posters of a few Earth rock bands, several more of gorgeous bikes of every year, make, and model decorated the walls. A small music player was off to the side of the room, along with some of the most banged up furniture he'd ever seen. Some tools and various parts were on the desktop along with several textbooks, and half-finished blueprints littered the bookshelves. The notebook that Charley had used last night sat in a place of honor on the top shelf.

The small kitchen was almost empty except for a hot plate, the mini-fridge, and a bag of ramen noodles beside one lone pot. _No visual player, no disks, not even a game console. This kid desperately needs some better stuff. More room would be better too. And some food. Lots more food. _

Now how to get him that stuff, was the real problem. According to the kid's file, he lived off an allowance his uncle sent from Earth every month, and that was barely enough just for him, let alone the two of them. Hmm. Throttle wondered if Modo would fix it so his accounts transfered to a mortal bank. The big guy could always be counted on to help him, so that wouldn't be hard. And Vinnie could probably smuggle his things down here, as long as Stoker wasn't looking. But Almighty help them if Scabbard got wind of any of this, if he didn't know already and--

The god shook off those worries. Right now, he had others things to consider. Like where his mortal charge was. The sound of running water made him perk up. A shower? In this dump? Praise the Almighty, but at least there was one real blessing about this dorm. He followed the sound, heading down the hall and through a sliding door that opened into a small locker room. Charley's clothes were in a bag off to the side of the door that led to the open showers, so he stripped out of the rest of his clothing. _Might as well get a hot shower in before calling the guys._

He opened the door and frowned at the sheer amount of steam that poured out of the dimly lit room. How many people were in here? He glanced around and only saw the one figure in the haze, the pale skin and alburn hair marking his Terran as the source of all the steam. He walked over the concrete floor to ask to borrow some soap when a few things came to his attention.

First off, Charley had some astonishingly long hair. It came all the way past his waist in liquid waves. It must be an Earth custom. Second, that waist of his was oddly....curvy. So were his hips. Was that a tattoo on his lower back? Third, the kid had some fantastic legs. Long, gorgeous legs that seemed to go on for miles.....

Wait a minute. Either he was starting to play for the other team, or...

"Um.....Charley?"

The Terran, (the _**girl**_ Terran, he noted in shock), whirled at the sound of his voice and screamed. "What the hell are you doing in here?!"

"Showering!" he shouted back out of reflex. He immediately blushed brilliant red when he saw the very feminine front curves of his charge, covering his eyes.

She gasped in outrage, covering as much of herself as she could, "Get out!!"

"What about you?!"

"What _about _me?!"

"You--I mean, when did you--How"-he could barely force his mouth to work around his shock--"You're a girl?"

"Of course I'm a girl!"

"When did this happen?!"

She stared at him. "I've always been a girl, you idiot!"

"You never said anything!"

"Wha--I thought you knew!"

"It didn't say that in your file! And your name's Charley!"

"Its short for Charlene!"

"You live in a boys dorm! How the hell did you get in here if you're a girl?!"

"They"--her voice suddenly went very quiet--"they don't know that. No one knows that."

His eyebrows went up and his hand slid down from his eyes to meet hers. "You lied to them?"

"There was no other way I could come to the Institute. I thought this was a coed dorm; I didn't find out it was men only until I was already here. I couldn't afford anything else, I mean, I couldn't even afford a ticket back home," she explained, a blush of embarrassment staining her cheeks. It went fushia when she glanced down and got a very inappropriate eyeful. "C-could you turn around or something? Please?"

His blush matched her own as he whirled around to face the other way. He took a deep breath to try and calm his racing thoughts. "So you're a girl, living in a mens dorm, and no one else knows about this? Not even your uncle?"

"No," she said quietly. "If he knew, he'd pull me out. But I can't go Throttle, I can't! The best teachers and programs in the Federation are here; I'd never learn as much anywhere else. And the guys have been so good to me here. No jerks hitting on me, no girls making fun of me because I'm a greasemonkey, its been awesome."

_Almighty above, does she not see the danger in this idea? _He shook his head, "What if someone finds out about this? You could be kicked out of the school. Someone could even try to blackmail you about this."

"If no one's guessed yet, I don't know how they'd find out now." She frowned to herself and touched his shoulder, "You won't tell anyone, will you?"

"Of course not," he said, offended. "I'd never betray you like that."

She pulled back from him, ducking her head in remorse. "I'm sorry."

He huffed a bit. "Its fine." _After all, you barely know me_. "But what now? You can't stay here like this."

"Why not? Its worked fine so far."

"Look, I'm not saying to drop out of school, just find another place to live. There's got to be another spot open somewhere."

"I've already looked," she said glumly. "Every other dorm is completely full, and there's a waiting list four years long to get in. All the houses around are rented out, and the nearest apartments are an hour away and they're booked too. The worst part is, that's all a moot point, because I can't afford to live anywhere else."

"I'll see what I can do about that."

"What do you mean?"

"I've got some savings in my accounts back home. I'll have my friend Modo wire some of it to me and set me up an account here on Mars."

"I can't live off your money!"

He frowned, "And why not?"

Her face was stricken as she spoke, "I already got you stuck here with me, I can't make you pay for all of it too!"

"You're not making me do anything, I'm offering. Not to mention, I'd like to sleep on a bed that's long enough to hold me"--his voice suddenly died. _And do you remember everything that went on in that bed?_

"I know, that futon is tiny even for me," she said. "But it was all I could afford to buy. I guess you're used to something a lot bigger, huh?"

No answer from him.

"Throttle? What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"I....Charlene, I'm so sorry," he said dazedly.

"For what?"

"I--I hit you," the god said in horror. It was one thing to horse around with a boy like he had last night. It was something completely different with a girl. "_I hit you_. I swore I would never be like him, and here I strike an innocent girl"--

"Throttle, you didn't hurt me"--she tried to say but he kept going.

"I'm sorry. By the Almighty One, Charlene, I am so sorry," he said, his voice ringing with remorse as he turned and gave a low bow, his eyes firmly locked on the floor. "I--I'll leave you to your shower." He hurried out of the room, ignoring her call as he grabbed his clothes and almost ran to the small bedroom. The Martian god dressed hurriedly, his bike rolling over to him and nudging his side as he slid down the wall to sit on the floor with his head in his hands.

_Way to go, genius_, he berated himself. _You don't leave when you see a naked girl in the shower, you stay there and shout at her for something that you really should have seen in her file! I'm sure she really appreciated being oggled at. How in the Nine Hells did I miss that she was a girl?! It would have said so right under her name in the paperwork! _

_And let's see just what all I've already done to the poor girl. I trashed her room when I transferred her wish. I knocked her off her feet and pinned her down on the bed--pinned her down not once, but twice! And the first time was right when--_

He thought he was going to be sick. _Right when I was trying to get her shirt off. Its a miracle I didn't expose her right then, for Heaven's sake, her dorm mates were right there! _

_You didn't know she was a girl, _a little voice argued.

_That's no excuse! I tried to strip her clothing off, then I practically attacked her! How is she not furious with me? She offers me the only food and water she has, insists I take the only bed--a bed I made fun of, _he thought, ashamed of himself_. She offered me everything she had, and all I did was act like an ungrateful brat._

_I have to make it up to her_--

A sudden scream split the air, making Throttle's blood run cold. He sprinted back down the hall, his bike hot on his heels, blasting out corners and doors in its way. _That was Charlene!!_


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you for your patience, but so much has been going on in real life, its insane.

Recommended reading: Home With You by GirlyGeek, Benevolent Resolution Part 2 by Eternalfan, and anything written by Intrepidwarriors.

Chapter 5

It was the worst case scenario.

At least, in Charlene's eyes. After the bloody red haze of fury left his eyes, Throttle was rather relieved it wasn't anything worse.

Audi and Varna were standing in front of the shower room door, staring with jaws dropped at the sight of a very naked Charley. She'd just put down her towel and had been reaching for her clothes when the two had walked in. Audi held a shaking hand up, pointing at her. "You--you're a girl."

"Yes," she squeaked in mortification, her green eyes huge in shock.

"And you're in the Auto Club's shower," Varna said dazedly. A raunchy smirk came on his face. "And are you available for a little fun"--

"No, she's not. And you two are going to turn around and give the lady privacy, right now," Throttle growled. His bike revved loudly at his side as the two Mice whirled to face him, cringing at the look of black fury on his face. They nearly wet their pants at the sight of the bike's glowing cannons, ready to fire.

"B-but she's a girl! She can't be in here!" Audi protested weakly. The brown mouse couldn't help his knees shaking.

"That's no excuse for you to keep staring at her," the god bit out, his fists clenched and tail lashing. "And neither one of you has offered the lady an apology."

"S-sorry," Varna said, glancing over his shoulder. A deep growl from Throttle made the spotted mouse close his eyes before he could see her and turn back around. Audi nodded and his voice shook as he told the girl sorry as well. Then he turned back to Throttle. "But she really can't be in here, s-sir. The rules say that no women are allowed here for any reason."

"Please don't say anything," Charley begged. "I'll do anything, just please, don't tell Husky and Foale!"

"Anything?" Varna asked eagerly, right before Throttle punched a deep hole in the wall beside the mouse's head.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" the god asked politely, with murder in his eyes.

"N-n-n-no, s-sir."

"Good."

"Charley?" Audi said incredulously, unable to believe his ears. "Charley, is that you?"

"Uh--um"--the poor girl could barely form a sentence, she was so rattled.

"It _is _you! But Charley, you can't stay here," Audi said. "Women aren't allowed in the dorm, how did you even get in here in the first place?"

"That doesn't matter," Varna said, edging away from Throttle as the god moved to stand in front of Charley, shielding her from their sight. "She has to leave. Rules are rules."

"C'mon guys, just until I find something else? Anything else?" she pleaded. "I have nowhere to go, Varna, I can't even go home!"

"Tough luck," he said, inching towards the door and away from the glaring Throttle. "You're the one that lied to us. Its your problem now. C'mon, Audi."

Audi sent her a sympathetic glance as he made for the door, hurrying after his friend. "I'm sorry, Charley, but he's right. You can't stay here anymore."

The door shutting sounded like the toll of doom to Charlene's ears. "Oh no."

"I'm sorry, Charley," Throttle said, his tail searching for and finding the towel, handing it to her as she sat down in a daze. He chanced a quick glance back and saw that she'd wrapped it around herself like a blanket.

"Why? Its not your fault," she said in an oddly blank voice.

"It is my fault. If I'd stayed here to guard the door, I could have stopped them from seeing you."

"Well," she drew in a shuddering breath, "what's done is done. No point in fussing about it now." Tears pooled in her eyes. "I'll just have to pack up my things, (hic), and, and--Oh god, what am I going to do?!" She broke down crying, her knees giving out and sending her to the floor.

Or they would have if she hadn't been caught in tan-furred arms. "Shh, its okay. It'll be okay, Charley, don't cry."

"I'm not---crying," she said stubbornly, even as her breath hitched in sobs. "Oh god, what if they revoke my scholarship? What if they kick me out? _What if they tell my uncle?!"_

It was all the young god could do to hold her. He'd never been good at comforting people under any circumstances, and to tell the truth, crying girls scared the hell out of him. Nothing made a male feel more helpless than the sight of a girl in tears. But he could understand what the poor girl was going through. She'd been under the strain of the charade for so long, worried constantly about being found out, so that when she finally was---well, he honestly couldn't blame her for loosing it a bit. The god carried her back to the room, leaving for a moment to give her the privacy to change into clothes and to get back under control. He came back a few minutes later. "Okay, we've got a little time to pack. You get your things together, and I'll start making a few calls."

She nodded and gave him a watery smile. "Y-your friend Modo?"

He smiled back in reassurance. "Definately. But first things first. We have to have somewhere to go."

Charley wiped her eyes, blushing bright red at the realization of how badly she'd lost her composure. "But where? Where on Mars could we afford to go? You have to have a down payment or at least a security deposit paid up front to stay anywhere, and Throttle, I'm completely broke. My next allowance doesn't come for another five days."

"Hmm." He thought a moment. "You got a map of the area anywhere?"

"Sure. Had to have one so I wouldn't get lost when I first came here," she answered, rummaging around her bookshelf. "Here you go."

"Thanks." He spread out the map on the floor, taking one of the earrings from his left ear. It was a spiked ball with a cross dangling from it, made from shining platinum. He pulled a silver chain from around his neck and laced the earring though it, holding it over the map.

_"Spirits of Air,_

_Answer my call_

_Seek through cities_

_Of sand and walls_

_Simple lodging do we seek_

_That easily will both us keep_

_Without constraint of cash flow_

_A place we may lay down weary souls."_

She stared at him for a second, one eyebrow cocked incredulously. That could not be a spell. "That has to be the most ridiculous"--

The homemade pendulum began to swing on the chain in a circle, going faster and faster until it was nothing but a metal blur. The god let go of the chain, the jewelry still spinning perfectly in the air. Suddenly it stopped in midair, winds wildly swirling around it before it dropped, one of the ball's spikes driving into the map. "There's our new home," Throttle said confidently.

_That'll teach me to make fun of bad poetry_. Charlene stared, tentatively reaching out and pulling the earring from the map to see where it had landed. She gave a disbelieving bark of laughter. "Ha! Ha, ha! You have got to be kidding me! Rassilion Hills? That's the most expensive neighborhood for a thousand miles in every direction!"

"Have a little faith, Charlene. The System Force is nothing to mess with. You wished for us to stay together, so it will find a way for that to happen," Throttle said as he began tossing her books into a small bag that he had pulled off of his belt. It never once expanded as the much bigger books were put inside it. The mini-fridge, hotplate, and her remaining store of ramen noodles followed the books in and still nothing happened to the bag.

She stared at him as he continued shoving her things into the tiny bag. "How--how are you doing that?"

He blinked up at her like a kid with their hand caught in the cookie jar. "Ever heard of a bag-of-plenty?"

"Only in Dungeons and Dragons."

"I love that game," he said with a laugh. "Races all over the Universe come up with the best ideas there. A bag-of-plenty is the common name for something like this. Basically, its the opening to a pocket dimension. You know, little bubbles of the space-time continuum that just never connected to the whole? The best part is, since they're their own little dimension, they're infinite. You can fit anything in there. Buildings, cars, small planets, that sort of thing."

Charley felt the logical part of her brain, (the part concerned with silly little things like reality as she knew it), die a slow death. Still, she couldn't help but ask, "If its infinite, how do you find anything in there?"

He just shrugged, "Simple. You spell the opening to get you whatever you're thinking of. Like making the door into a search engine; you think of something and it finds it for you. Then you just reach in and pull it out."

"Ah," she nodded like she understood. _My head is going to explode. No doubt about that whatsoever. Its just a matter of when_. What really irked her was that he talked about this stuff so casually, as if she should already understand what he was talking about. She followed Throttle downstairs and out into the bright sunshine to where his bike waited, carrying the last of her few things out of the room. "But seriously, Throttle, most of Rassilion Hills is a gated community. You have to meet the dress code just to get in. No way could we be going there!"

Throttle just shook his head, tossing the small bag of Charley's things into the sidecar of his bike. "The cross never lies, Charley-girl. Its there, you'll see."

The girl stared at his bike in shock. "Where did the sidecar come from?"

He smiled at her. "Manipulated matter at the sub-atomic level to make one."

"Oh."_ My head is gonna explode_. _Any second now_. "Why?"

The god stared at her in surprise. "I can't make you ride behind me."

She blinked at him. "Why not? There's plenty of room." And there was. That black and chrome beauty was huge.

"But its rude."

"Rude?"

He fidgeted like he really wanted to blush but didn't want to look uncool. "You're not supposed to make a lady ride astride."

"Astride--Oh." It came to her what he meant. In the old days, no one would ever make a girl ride astride, or rather, with her legs apart. It could actually cause damage to her reputation to be seen doing such a thing. _Old-fashioned much? _"Throttle, everyone on campus still thinks I'm a boy. At least, they do if Audi and Varna haven't said anything."

"And I doubt that," Throttle said grimly.

"But no one would think badly if I were riding with you like that, its done all the time."

"Seriously? Even though you're a girl?"

She nodded.

"Oh. Well then." He looked at a loss for a moment before perking up and snapping his fingers. The sidecar suddenly dissolved into streams of matter, the strands twisting and conforming into a much smaller shape. With a quick pop of sound, a brand new riding helmet sat on the ground. It was a deep emerald green with white wings painted along the sides. "Its yours. Do you like it?"

_'I don't have a lot of power on my own,' yeah right! What the hell does he call this?! _Her jaw dropped open in shock and she pinched herself hard to be sure she wasn't dreaming. "Ah. You just--just--y-yeah, I love it. Green's my favorite color."

"Good to know," he said with a slight smile.

Her head finally cleared of the awe she'd felt at seeing magic, real magic, in front of her eyes. Panic was ready to set in. "Throttle, you can't use magic where people can see you!"

"Why not--oh. Right. Sorry." Throttle was not naive. He had a good idea of what would happen if other mortals found out that a god walked among them. Fanatics would be following after them at the very least, and the government would get involved at the worst.

"I don't want to even think about what would happen if anybody found out about you," she said, shaking her head.

"Me either. So, are we ready to go?"

"I guess so," she said, swinging her leg over the bike and settling into the seat behind him. She couldnt' help her trepidation as she pulled her new helmet on. "Let's ride."

The black bike's engine roared as he pulled out into the street, speeding down the road toward Rassilion Hills.


	6. Chapter 6

Recommended reading: All of the BMFM stories by Hera Ledro. They're awesome, and often take unique and different spins on the BMFM universe.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not a blessed or damned thing....(sigh).

Chapter 6

Charley let out a low whistle as they drove past manicured lawns and lush gardens that surrounded this part of the richest neighborhood on Mars. "Man, if I hadn't felt like I was out of place before, this would seal it."

Even Throttle looked a little uncomfortable. "I know exactly what you mean."

She pulled back a bit in surprise. "You? Really? I would think a god would be used to stuff like this."

"Hey, Heaven may be paradise, but I keep my house simple. I've never been big into all those fancy ceremonies and rituals either. Give me an old fashioned street festival anyday."

She found a smile. "I bet you'd love the block party my neighborhood has every summer. So, are you sure this is the right place?"

"The cross never lies," he said confidently. "It should be a little further down the road." They came to a stop outside a huge, sprawling temple, done in the classic style of the Tnemtn Cave Mice. (To Charley, it looked a lot like the Parthenon back on Earth.) But while the temple was big, it had clearly seen better days.

It was built from giant bricks of red marble, the building easily encompassing the surface area of an entire city block. And the bricks were chipped and cracked, even some of the foundation stones dangerously marred. It was only three stories tall and the pillars that supported the roof were over five feet in diameter and covered with carvings of the Martain gods. Sadly, these were also damaged, many of the gods and monsters depicted were missing parts and faces, some erased entirely. Twenty foot tall gates of solid steel that were starting to rust stood open, leading into what was once a beautiful garden. Now it was a mass of weeds and broken masonry, benches crumbling from old age. The fountain and meditation pool were thick with pond scum, the famous pink-seed blossom flowers of Mars choked by the algae that flooded the basin.

"This is a temple?" Charley said, her voice quiet with akward reverence. Though it wasn't her religion, she was raised to be respectful of the faiths of others. (Especially with a god of said faith walking right beside her.)

"Once," Throttle said sadly. He looked around the temple with a melancholy gaze. "I think this was dedicated to Stoker."

"Stoker de Thraxus, the patron god of soldiers?" she asked. Martian mythology class was going to come in very handy from now on.

"The very one," Throttle replied. "He taught me all I know about fighting. He's a legend even among the Elder Gods. He led the Gods against the Demons in the first of the Arch Wars."

"Now that, young man, is a very ancient myth," an old voice said creakingly. They immediately turned to face the source, an old mouse dressed in brown priest's robes. He had once had solid black fur, but it was peppered with grey now, and a long white beard came down to mid-chest. He walked hunched over, a cane his only other means of support. Charley beat Throttle to the punch and quickly went to the priest's side and offered her arm to help him down the small stairs that he gratefully accepted. "Oh, thank you, thank you dear, you're very kind to an old mouse."

"Can I get you anything, sir? A drink of water, or something?" she asked as she led him over to a bench that was still standing.

"Oh, now, this is my home," the old mouse lightly scolded as he sat down with visible effort. "I'm the one that should be offering you some refreshment."

"Thank you for your generous offer," Throttle said with a formal bow. "We apologize for coming unannounced into the home of your patron god, and hope that we do not give offense."

The old mouse gave Throttle a long look before he answered in an equally formal tone, "You are most well come into the home of my patron. May he bless your arrival and grant you peace from the worries you bring with you. I am called Meridian, the abbot of this temple."

"Thank you for your welcome, Abbot Meridian," Throttle replied, bowing again. "My name is Throttle"--he hastily cut off the rest of his name, (_No need to panic the abbot_), and continued, "and this is the Lady Charlene."

She shot him a quick look of consternation at such a title.

Meridian arched an eyebrow at the young-looking Mouse. "Ah, I see. Well then, we had best get things moving. Come, come, stand here by the fountain, my lady." She blinked a bit at the order, but hurried to do as the mouse said. "And you, young man, here beside her. Now, join hands, young ones."

Throttle and Charley exchanged looks before doing so.

"Ah, now then, will any other guests be arriving?" the abbot asked.

"Um, n-no," Charley said awkwardly. "Not that we know of." She leaned closer to Throttle, whispering, "What is he talking about?"

"No idea," he murmured back.

"Oh, too bad, too bad, a fine looking couple like you," the old mouse continued. "A shame, really. You must have defied family tradition to marry outside your species, eh?"

Both Martian and Terran felt their jaws drop. "Wha..."

"Now, let us get to the ceremony. Do you, Throttle, take this woman"--

Charlene stared. Surely she didn't hear him right---"What?"

The elder mouse paused, "Oh, I'm sorry, _Terran_ woman, to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

The tan mouse blinked in shock. "I...I--I---"

"Poor mouse, no need to be so nervous!" the abbot said cheerfully. "And now do you, Lady Charlene, take this Martian Mouse"---

"Wait, wait wait!!" She cried. "We--we're not married!!"

"Not yet," said the old mouse, "but if you'll just let me finish"--

"No!! I mean, we don't want to get married! We just met yesterday!! Throttle, say something!!"

Throttle shook himself out of his shock at the distress in the girl's voice. Abbot Meridian, we're not getting married."

"Really?"

"Really!!"

"Oh," the abbot said sadly. "Its been so long since I've spoke the vows for a wedding. I apologize, its just that I haven't had any visitors in my temple for so long, I just assumed that must be why a young couple would come in here. My mistake! You see, I tend to jump to conclusions," he said cheerfully.

Its not something to brag about! Charley thought to herself.

"So, might I ask what brings you to my temple?"

Charley glanced over to Throttle, who merely gave a small shrug as he explained. "We've had some bad fortune and have been evicted from our previous house. We were hoping to ask for sanctuary here."

"Not for free," Charley interjected. "We won't have any money for about a week, but we'd be happy to work for room and board. Please sir, can't we stay?"

"My goodness," Meridian said in surprise. "Well, I certainly have no objections to some company. I'd be grateful for any help you can give me, as well. I'm not as spry as I once was, so managing the upkeep on this place is not easy. I gladly accept your offer."

The elder Mouse led them to hallway that faced out along the courtyard and further in to the door of a large room. He apologized at its state of mild disrepair, with cracks in the walls and water-spots on the ceilings, but Charley just smiled. "Don't worry, Abbot Meridian, its fine. Its actually just like my old house back on Earth. I can start working on the roof, if you like."

"The roof?" Throttle said in surprise, pausing from discreetly pulling all of her things out of the bag-of-plenty while the Abbot's back was turned. "You know how to fix roofs?"

"Sure! Do you have spare shingles, sir, or is it all tile?"

"Oh yes, its all tile--but my lady! You really don't have to start right now," the abbot said, almost as surprised as Throttle. "Surely you would like to rest and refresh yourself."

"Oh, but there's no time like the present," Charlene said cheerfully as she pulled her tool belt out from where Throttle had laid it. "Besides, I think the forecast called for some storms tonight, right? Better get to work if we want to stay dry. Where do you keep the ladders?"

The abbot pointed out the small tool shed on the edge of the temple grounds and the girl set out to work. He blinked after her. "My, she's certainly an energetic young lady, isn't she?"

"Indeed. Nothing like what I expected," Throttle said in some wonder.

"Abbot Meridian! Abbot Meridian, sir!" Charley called from atop the temple roof.

"Yes, my lady?"

"Do you have any Quik-Crete? I bet I can get the front walkway fixed by nightfall!"

The old priest blinked up at her in surprise before he nodded, and the human smiled brightly as she turned back to patching the roof. "Very energetic young lady."

"Indeed," Throttle repeated, his eyes wide in surprise.

Later that night, most of the roof had been repaired, with only the outer courtyard left unfinished. Charley hadn't been able to start on the walkway, to her chagrin, as the abbot could only find a small amount of the cement and would need to order more. With Charley so busy working, Throttle had been reluctantly drafted to the kitchen to help make dinner. The old mouse was absolutely astonished at the state of the room when the young mouse was done.

It was completely spotless. The silverware was polished, the dishes washed and dried, the cabinets repaired, tables, chairs, and benches all like new. The sink's plumbing was fixed, the loose tiles on the floor were set, and dinner was perfectly prepared. All in less than three hours. The abbot couldn't help his comment, despite how it sounded. "Good Heavens, young sir, but you will make someone a fine wife someday."

Throttle had blushed bright red, muttering something about Modo's mother being a strict trainer. The blush got worse when Charlene had come in to eat, staring in astonishment at the large spread of food. "Th-Throttle? You made all this?"

"Yeah," he murmured, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. Great, now he'd never hear the end of the 'girly' comments--

"You're amazing!"

"Huh?!"

"This is incredible! I can't believe you're so talented at cooking!" She suddenly blushed, "Oh wow. You didn't need to go to so much trouble. Thank you so much, Throttle."

The young god found himself blushing for a different reason now. No one had ever praised his cooking before. Vinnie and Modo usually teased him mercilessly about his unmacho habit. "Oh, i-its nothing, really."

"Young man, you shouldn't be so modest," Abbot Meridian said. "I haven't had a home cooked meal this good in a very long time. Maybe ever," he said wonderingly.

Throttle was beyond blushing at this point. "Thank you, Abbot sir."

Meridian cocked his eyebrow at the god. "You have a very distinct way of speaking, young Throttle. I've heard very few people your age speak so. Tell me, have you had any vocational training?"

"Since the day I was born," he answered. _Might as well tell as much of the truth as I can. After all, I can't lie._

"Ah," the old mouse nodded. "I thought so. And you, young lady?"

Charley startled a bit, "Oh no, sir. I'm just a student at the Institute, I've never had any formal training. At anything. Well except for my uncle's trade."

"Yes? And what does he do?"

She lifted her chin in pride. "He's a mechanic, sir. One of the best in the galaxy. He designs racing bikes and flight racers too."

"Ah," Meridian said with an approving nod, "he's a follower of Ferrous."

"The forger god?" She asked.

He smiled at her, "You are studying the gods, my lady? Very good. Yes, Ferrous de Romule, the forger god, who created the Mice from the red sands of the caves, the Rats from the black sand of the volcanoes, and the Raiders from the salt of the Dynamo sea. He's a wondrous god of creativity, with his many children that inspire artists and builders alike."

"Like the Muses and Hephaestus of Greek mythology on Earth," she said excitedly.

"Indeed," Meridian said with a laugh. "The parallels between the various beliefs of the galaxies never cease to amaze me."

_Mostly because they're all the same people_, Throttle thought to himself with a smile. _I think you'd be more astonished at that._

The abbot soon retired to bed after that, the events of the day more taxing than he would like to admit. Charlene offered to help clean up, but Throttle immediately shooed her away, siting all the work she did outside as more than enough for one day. So as he washed up, she decided to take advantage of the hot spring baths the abbot had showed them. It was a large pool of steamy water, milky white with all the minerals that were said to have healing properties. Large, leafy plants grew around the fences that surrounded it, ensuring privacy for the bather. _A chance for a sit down, hot, steamy bath after a long day of fixing roofs is just what the doctor ordered_, she thought to herself.

She slipped out of her dirty clothing in the changing room, and took a quick shower in the provided stall to scrub off all the dirt from the day. The Martians believed that springs were sacred, and that no one should ever poison them with soaps or dirt. Therefore, people would scrub down away from the spring, to keep from contaminating the holy waters. She grabbed a towl as she walked out the doors to the enclosed hot spring. The steam from the spring was thick in the cooler night air, nearly obscuring her vision completely, and she shivered a bit as a slight breeze blew through the yard. The girl slowly walked down the stone steps, closing her eyes to better enjoy the feel of the hot water seeping up her tired feet, ankles, calves--

"Merciful Almighty, but it has been centuries since a fresh virgin has been sent to me in my scared springs. What brings a lovely human like yourself here?"

Charley's eyes flew open and she stared at the sight of a male Mouse sitting against the far side of the spring. Long brown fur glistened with water over a rock hard body, criss-crossed with scars. A long mane of dark brown hair with two streaks of light gold at the temples framed his face, and several white gold and platinum earrings dangled from his ears. Five platinum rings went up his left antennae, their pure color seeming to match the nearly glowing white marks shaped like a crown of diamonds on his forehead. Deep brown eyes flecked with red stared appreciatively at her, and a warm smile graced his features. He saw the blush on her cheeks and chuckled, slowly standing up from the water. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the rest of his body, and it was a godly thing to behold indeed. _M-My god, he's almost exactly like Throttle_--

A voice rich as dark chocolate and laced with genuine charm spoke, "Ah, forgive my manners. I am Stoker de Thraxus, the god of this temple. And if you like, lovely girl, you can do more than look at me."

Charlene Davidson fainted dead away.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Throttle jerked upright from his meditation stance, red eyes opening wide behind his shades. Every hair on his body stood on end, tiny arcs of electricity dancing along the tips. He slowly rose from the mat on the polished wood floor, listening intently. _Somethings wrong. But what?_ The young god sent out his senses, trying to identify what had set off the wards he had placed around the temple grounds.

Earlier, as Charlene had set out for the springs, Throttle had been busy checking the temple's wards and charms. Wards were protective rings of holy or magical energy that could be used like a force-field to keep things out. They could also be spelled to keep only certain things out, like demons or those with ill-intent, or to keep things in, like precious or holy objects. He had taken a long walk around the perimeter of the temple, checking the wards for cracks or outright failures and to his surprise only found a few faults. Most of the ancient enchantments and charms were still in place. That certainly explained the state of the temple's disrepair.

One of the many charms of protection on the temple was one to keep people from noticing it if the physical defences were in disrepair. In the ancient days of its construction, this would have allowed the temple's defenders time to repair the fortifications without an enemy noticing the building's weakness, since the temple had often doubled as a fortress in times of war. With the temple deteriorating, the charm had been activated, and had kept vandals and other defilers away. It had also seemed to have backfired a bit, as without anyone noticing the temple's problems, no one had thought to help. Most seemed to have actually forgotten the holy place was even there!

For the sake of avoiding any hassle, he'd modified that particular charm to keep people from the temple indefinitely.

He had strengthened the wards with some of his very limited supply of power, and had constructed new wards to make living there easier for the two new occupants. These new wards would help with the growth of healthy plants for the garden, while prohibiting mold, mildew, fungus and algae from corrupting the walls or even worse, the water supply. They would muffle the sounds of any magic done inside them, and would eventually help to charge his own reserves of magic if it should deplete. The last new ward was to help protect his lady. Humans, for all their medical advancements and technology, were still vulnerable to certain strains of Martian diseases. His girl would not fall ill on his watch, not with a very powerful, very _draining_, ward of Healing around the temple grounds.

Now something had set off the internal wards, telling him that something had just arrived deep in the temple grounds. But nothing had set off the external wards, so soemthing had either flown in, or...someone had teleported in. In the sacred springs. Where Charley was!

He immediately started running, his feet pounding against the wood floors as he crossed the complex in seconds. He threw open the sliding doors to the spring, stopping so fast his tail nearly smacked against the door frame. All his hair bristled, the sparks of electricity glowing brighter and bigger along his tan fur as his lips pulled back over suddenly sharper teeth. Every muscle tensed, his fists clenched as his tail began to twist and writhe in agitation.

All this, from the blurred vision of a strange male Mouse carrying the limp form of his naked, unconscious Terran, _his Charley-girl_, from the holy waters and into the main worship hall. Throttle took two steps and was instantly through the door, his vision going red as he saw the male slowly put the unconscious girl on the low stone altar at the front of the room. . The Martian god's voice was a barely recognizable growl as he bit out, "Get. Away. From. Her. _Now_."

The male didn't even startle at the sight of him as he put on a full set of intricate platinum armor. "And what do we have here? I thought this young lovely was alone."

A thin one-sided sword of black metal slowly formed over the Nuk-Knuks of his right hand, a deft twist of his wrist slipping its hilt into his grip. The arcs of lightning from his fur concentrated on his sword, the god lifting it into a battle stance. "She is not your 'lovely.' She is my contractor, my lady, and you will not touch her again."

"Someone's awfully touchy. Been a while since you've gotten any?" The older Mouse asked in some concern as he casually spread his long red cape over the now sleeping girl. "You know, if she is your lady, you really should ask her to help you with that little problem."

Throttle's eyes glowed red as he finally recognized the intruder. "Stoker, I don't care if you're descended from the Almighty Himself, if you don't get away from her and stop talking about her like that, I will disembowel you where you stand!"

Stoker de Thraxus slowly straightened to his full height as he turned his full attention to the younger god, the links of his metal tail clinking as he looked Throttle. "Is that how it is? You really think you can take me on here, in my own temple?"

"It doesn't matter where we are," Throttle snapped. "I'll _make _you get away from her if I have too."

The brown furred Mouse slowly stepped down to the main floor, the benches and chairs of the hall yanking themselves out of the way. A long double-edged sword appeared in front of the god, and he took it with an easy grip. "She's got you wrapped around her little finger, doesn't she?"

"I am to protect her from all harm, no matter from who," Throttle answered.

"Ah, but I think there's a little more at work here than that," Stoker said casually, just as he brought the great sword down in a deadly strike.

*&*&*&*&*&*&

Charley woke to the sounds of metal ringing on metal, shouts and bodies crashing into either walls or the floor adding to the noise. She slowly sat up, blinking against the light and gasping as she felt a warm cloth fall away from her body. Her very naked body! She immediately clutched the cloth back to cover herself as she looked around. The girl gawked at the sheer damage done to the room. "What the hell happened in here?"

Smoking holes were torn in the walls, deep gouges were in the floor and even some of the roof's support beams. She slowly stood up, careful of where her feet went to avoid broken stone and splinters. She tucked the cloth--(a cape, she was stunned to see)--around her body, using the clasp to pin it over one shoulder as the rest fell in a toga-shape. She could jsut barely hear any of the earlier noise now, and wondered where the source of all this destruction had come from. And where it was now, truth be told.

Just as she stepped off the main platform, the stones beneath her feet glowed white in the shape of circle filled with strange runes. She passed over them in awe, the light feeling like a warm breeze on her skin. _What was that? _she wondered. _Was that magic?_

Suddenly a huge mass crashed through the roof, sending out a huge cloud of debris and dirt. She threw up her hands to deflect some of it, crying out in shock. As more of the dust cleared she could see two Mice were locked in combat. _Its the naked guy from before! But with armor on now and--Throttle!!_ Throttle and the other Mouse were straining to keep their grip as the two swords they carried were locked over Throttle's throat. But the other Mouse was in a better position and was slowly but surely pressing his sword down, the edge grazing Throttle's neck and thin line of blood appeared--

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Both Martians startled badly, whipping their gazes around to the human girl. Their eyes widened at the sight of her, hands on her hips and glaring like she could kill them with a look. "You," she pointed at Stoker, "get off my god now! And you!" she glared down at Throttle, ignoring the look of unholy glee on the elder Martian's face. "Is he, or is he not, Stoker de Thraxus?"

"..He..H-he is," Throttle said, finally finding his tongue.

"So this is his temple, right?"

"Yes."

"So quit threatening to kill the guy who owns the place!" she scolded. "And you stop laughing!" she said, shaking her finger at the now positively guffawing Stoker. His armor melted away, leaving him a white t-shirt, black jean, and a dust brown Army vest. A well-worn pair of brown leather boots were on his feet, and several tattoos of unknown languages and design faded onto his fur. "Did you really have to go and pick a fight with Throttle?"

"Aw, now I'm hurt. How do you know he didn't pick a fight with me?" Stoker asked in a mildly mocking voice.

"Because Throttle's cool like that," Charley said matter-of-factly. But on catching the growing blush on the young god's face, her eyebrows went up in surprise. "What? You started this?"

"I thought he had attacked you!"

"Hey!" Stoker protested. "I don't need to knock a girl out to have a good time!"

"She was perfectly fine walking in the springs by herself, and then I saw you were carrying her out of the springs, naked and unconscious!" Throttle protested. "What was I supposed to think?"

"How about using that brain that you're famous for and asking me what was going on?" Stoker snapped.

A loud sigh interrupted their bickering. "Children, please. Throttle, I was walking into the spring when I saw Stoker was already in there," she blushed, "naked as the day he was born. I fainted, okay? Now Stoker, would you be so kind as to fill in the rest?"

"Of course, dear lady," the elder god replied. "When you passed out, I carried you here to the hall and put you on the altar to keep you safe while I contacted your contractor."

She frowned in confusion. "My what?"

"Your contractor, or the god that holds the contract of your Wish. That mark on your right hipbone, that's a sealing mark. Its proof that you're under contract with your chosen god. Speaking of which," Stoker leaned towards her in avid curiosity, "just how exactly did you con him into granting you a Prayer?"

Before Charley could protest, Throttle broke in, "Its not a Prayer, Stoker. Its a Blessing, authorized by the Almighty Himself."

Stoker froze, slowly turning from the girl to fully face Throttle. "A divine Blessing of Heaven's Grace? Are you serious?"

He nodded.

"Incredible," Stoker marvelled. "There hasn't been a Wish made in almost five hundred years. So just what did you Wish for, my lady?" he asked her.

She opened her mouth to answer, but a harsh choking sensation startled her into stopping. She cleared her throat and tried again, but this time she began to cough furiously. Both gods immediately moved to help her, sitting her back on the altar and materializing a glass of water for her to drink. "Thanks guys, I appreciate it," she said hoarsely. She made to try again to expain, but Stoker stopped her.

"Just stop while you're ahead, my lady. Whatever your Wish is, it must be filed in the System as Special Access. That's why you're coughing and choking like that."

"Special Access?"

"It means that only certain people, in certain positions, and only in certain situations, can access the file that details your Wish," Throttle explained. "Its to prevent any Demon Hackers from finding out about it, and will stop any other gods from tampering in it."

"Why would any of the gods mess with it?" She asked in confusion. "If the Almighty cleared it, they can't do anything about it, right?"

"Somewhat," Stoker said. "See, you can't negate the contract by subtracting the original deal. But you can state that certain things can or can't be done, via a qualifying clause, or you can add things to a contract to include certain rite and rituals. Other gods might want whatever it is you wished for to work in their favor, or to serve them outright."

"That's terrible," Charley said in horror. She looked over to the tan mouse, "Oh Throttle, I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it," he said with a shrug. "With the Special Access only order, the only ones that can attempt to alter the contract are those directly under the Almighty, and they're beyond trustworthy."

"Good to know," she said softly, stretching her arms as she yawned. The girl twisted to stretch further and froze in place. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Both gods turned to face where she looked and froze as well. "Uh-oh."

"Merciful Mother of Mars," Abbot Meridian breathed from just inside the main doors.


	8. Chapter 8

I know, this took forever. But real life, man, life!

Sigh. Oh well. Hey, shout outs to GirlyGeek, Eternalfan, and Hera Ledro. You guys help keep me going with your awesome stories and encouragement to little ole me. Thank you for everything!

Chapter 8

A very nervous Charley walked beside Throttle as they crossed the Institutes's campus. Her hair was down in a long braid, visible to everyone for the first time. Her black jeans and button-up blue shirt fit closer to her body, showing off the curves that proved she was indeed a girl. With her bangs framing her face, her prettier features were showing, and that sight caught many a males eye.

But the very intimidating mouse walking beside her stopped any man from approaching her. He wore the same outfit as when he first appeared to his girl, but with a white t-shirt added at Charley's request. (The girl knew that if he let other girls see that body of his unobstructed, it may very well cause rioting on the campus.) He carried her full back-pack over his shoulder, making many a girl 'aww' at his display of courtesy. And the fact that he was holding the nervous girl's hand solidified that perception that they were a couple.

Rumors and gossip were already spreading like wild fire over the campus about the new pair. (Quite frankly, no one had recognized Charlene Davidson as the previously known 'Charlie', as the change was so drastic. Where there had once been a scared-looking, thin, effeminate boy was now a still scared but undeniably attractive young girl.) The fact that they were headed for the Auto Club's dorms was not lost on anyone, either.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Charley asked.

"You have to face them sometime," Throttle chided softy. "Its better to do it now, before the rumors reach the dean, right?"

She nodded, griping his hand tighter. Realizing what she was doing, she blushed red, but didn't let go. Right then, she could use a friendly hand. And to think, she was holding the hand of a god! She privately marveled at all the things that had led up to this point. From meeting Throttle to the Wish she'd made, to the very insane events of the night before...

_**Flashback**_

The two gods and one human froze at the sight of the astonished abbot. "Ah, this is not what it looks like," Throttle said awkwardly.

"It looks like two gods fighting over the honor of the lady in the cloak, but it had now been peacefully resolved," the abbot said dazedly.

"...okay, its exactly what it looks like," Stoker muttered. He shook his head, walking over to the abbot with a smile. "Its been a long time since I've seen you, Meridian. You're looking as spry as ever."

"Thank you," the old mouse said, still looking quite surprised. "You don't look so bad yourself---wait, what? D-Do I...do I know you?"

"I'm hurt, man, really hurt," the older god said indignantly. "Are you actually saying I left so little of an impression on you that you don't even recognize me? In my own house?"

Meridian stuttered for a minute, pure confusion written on his face until it suddenly cleared. "Stoke!! You're Stoke?! From Tharag?! But--you haven't aged--it can't be! But you're not--you are?! Th-This is such a shock! A shock! Oh," he pressed a hand over his chest with a grimace of pain, "oh my, this is--"

"Abbot Meridian!" Charley cried as the mouse swayed on his feet, only to be caught by the quick movement of Stoker to catch him. The god carried the mouse over to the alter as Charley hurried out of the way, laying the old male down as the white circle reappeared on the floor. Light began to seep from the magic ward, slowly moving up into the older mouse. The grey in his fur disappeared, his arthritic limbs straightening out, and the pain that had been shooting through his body visibly dulled and disappeared. "Easy now, old friend. You'll come to no harm here."

"You're restoring him?" Throttle asked in surprise.

"Of course," Stoker replied. "Me and this guy go back a ways. We worked together in the last war."

"We...we did?" The abbot asked, blinking his eyes open. "Yes, yes, I remember. You were stationed with me in Tharag during the last Plutarkian war. I used to look all over the base for you, and you'd always show up when I least expected it." He sat up slowly, looking decades younger than he did a few minutes ago. Instead of his nineties, he could easily pass for sixty. A young looking sixty at that. "We used to go drinking together. C-could anyone else besides me see you? Everyone always looked at me like I was crazy whenever I'd tell them about going drinking with you."

"No, no one else could see me," Stoker answered with a rueful smile. "No one else had your kind of faith. He was the company's chaplain during the war," he explained to the younger two. "So of course he could see me. I never told him who I was, though. We're not really allowed to go telling mortals who we are, it tends to cause problems."

"Oh," Meridian said. "Well, that does explain quite a bit. So you were a god the whole time? But then why didn't you"---

"I couldn't," the god said softly, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We're not allowed to directly interfere in the events of mortals anymore. I can give strength, inspiration, or even help people find courage, but that's all I can really do now."

"But then how do you explain this?" Charley asked, gesturing to the abbot's restored body.

"Hey, he's in my temple, as one of my priests, and in a bit of a unique situation," Stoker replied. "Not to mention, he's a friend of mine. I can do miracles in my own temple still."

"Thank you," Meridian said quietly. "Thank you so much, my old friend."

"Its nothing," Stoker said. "Oh, but speaking of miracles, I have one last thing to do here before I have to get going. It concerns you two," he said to Throttle and Charley. He grew suddenly serious, an authoritative tone in his voice. "You set things in motion with that Wish of yours, Lady Charley, things that have to be seen through to the end. That's why I asked what it was, I was hoping for a little forewarning."

"What kind of things?" she asked nervously.

"I can't tell yet," he said, not unkindly. "But I do know it won't be for some time yet that you'll be called, so don't worry."

"Called?" Throttle asked in alarm. "What for? She's mortal, she can't go up against demons or gods!"

"She won't be, not directly," Stoker corrected.

"Called?" Charley asked worriedly. "What do you mean by 'called'?"

"Sorry, kids, that's all I know about it. But for now, keep safe, and keep things a secret, alright? Be as normal as possible, and try to blend in," Stoker went on.

"We will," Throttle answered, unconsciously slipping his hand into Charley's.

"Good man. Well, that takes care of everything except this." The god raised his hands up and the entire floor began to rumble and shake. Light began to glow from every corner of the room. Charley cried out in fright, Throttle pulling her into his arms for protection as suddenly the walls began to repair themselves. The roof began to fill in, the missing beams flying up and reconnecting to each other. The shattered furniture reformed and solidified as they watched, and they could hear the effects spreading out across the grounds of the entire temple.

When it was finally over, the floor gleamed like it had been freshly polished. They could hear the fountain flowing clearly, and as they looked out the clean and repaired windows, everyone could see the courtyard had been fully restored. Even the roof tiles had been replaced, the masonry perfect, and the many carvings on the walls were good as new.

Stoker lowered his hands, a smile growing on his face. "Ah, bliss. I always did fancy myself a carpenter, if the whole soldier thing hadn't worked out. Do you like it, Ridi?"

"Oh, Stoke," the abbot said in wonder. "Its beautiful. Just like it was before! It--Hey!! Don't call me Ridi! You know I hate that name--uh, um"-it seemed to suddenly hit the mouse just who his friend really was--"my lord. My patron! I mean, my"--

"Oh no, don't start that silliness," Stoker said uncomfortably. "Stoke is the name you gave me, and I prefer it that way."

There was a minute's pause before he answered. "Of course, my lord Stoke," Meridian said with a bow, and very small smirk. "As you wish, my lord Stoke."

Throttle and Charley both laughed as the older god muttered under his breath about ungrateful priests and crabby abbots. He shook his head and looked back at Charlene. "Keep the cloak, my lady. And keep it close to you. You never know when you might need such a thing, alright?"

"Really?" she said in surprise, unconsciously pulling the cloak tighter to herself.

"Of course," he replied. "And Throttle, good job on those wards. It should keep any undesirables out of your fur."

"Thank you, sir," Throttle said.

"Well, I better get going," Stoker said as his body began to glow even as it began to fade from sight. "Got a lot to do if I'm to find out any news about what's supposed to be going on. I'll keep you posted. Oh, and if you get a surprise visitor anytime soon, don't freak out too badly, alright Throttle?"

"That depends on who they're sending," Throttle muttered as the older god vanished from sight.

_**End Flashback**_

Charley and Throttle stood before the doors of the Auto Club dorm. Several of the Club's members looked at them oddly before going inside. Charley spotted Tomahawk and caught his sleeve as he walked by. "Hey, 'Hawk? Can you get Husky and Foale for me? I need to talk to them."

The grey mouse with a bright red mohawk gave the girl a long appraising look. "Oh babe, you don't need them. Now me? I can get ya whatever you need, you just name it."

A deep growl came from the very irritated mouse beside the 'babe' that Tomahawk had somehow missed seeing. The tan mouse leaned in, seeming to tower over the slightly shorter mouse. "The lady already said what she needed, so I suggest you go and get those two for her."

"S-sure, I-I'll do that," he said in terror, almost running into the building.

Charley shot Throttle a look. "You know, you don't have to frighten every guy that hits on me."

"He hit you?!" Throttle said in shocked outrage. His eyes glowed red and his left fist began to gather a fiery aura as he prepared to attack. "He _struck_ you?! _Get back here, you filthy coward!!"_

"No, no, I just mean he made a pass at me!!" Charley tried to calm him down. "Its just a slang term, Throttle, I promise! He never hit me or any other woman, 'Hawk's a good guy, really! He just tends to flirt with anything with girly parts. He once tried to make a pass on a stuffed doll once when he was drunk."

Throttle's breathing went back to normal and the aura around his fist disappeared. But his eyes still retained a reddish glow as he spoke, "Alright then. But I'm still keeping an eye on him."

"What's all the ruckus about out here?" A friendly voice asked as the dorm's doors opened. "We can hear you from all the way on the third floor." Husky, a large red mouse with a congenial grin, stepped out beside his friend Foale, a blonde colored mouse that was actually bigger than Throttle. "Hey, I know you. You were with Charley last night, right? And now you're with some other girl? For shame, man!"

Charley stared. "What?"

Throttle gaped at Husky's words. "This is not some other"--

"And to think, we were so happy for the little guy! For shame! You stain upon the honor of all men! How could you betray Charley like this?!" Foale cried. Both mice burst into manly tears, supporting each others weight as they cried, (which looked an awful lot like hugging).

"This is not some other girl, you morons! This is Charlene!" Throttle said angrily.

Both mice immediately grabbed his arms. "Hey, man, don't go broadcastin' that all over the world now. We do have a rep to keep up, you know," Husky whispered.

"Of course we knew Charley was a girl, we're not stupid," Foale said, both mice now acting totally different from before. "You have to keep a 3.7 GPA or above to stay in the dorms, most everyone but real social idiots didn't know. After all, where would the poor girl go?"

"How about we take this around back?" Husky said as he noticed the gathering crowd of students. The god and human were escorted to the back garage and sat down on a few lawn chairs that were offered. "Now look," Foale started, "first off, we have to apologize to Charley for the actions of Audi and Varna. No one is allowed to expel or evict a member of the Auto Club without calling a full Council of Mechanics"--

"Its clearly stated in the Club Charter," Husky added.

--"and they didn't call for one," Foale went on. "Therefore, they didn't have the authority to kick you out. And while you did break the rules"--

"The biggest one in the Moral Code of the Auto Club's Charter," Husky interjected.

"We still wouldn't kick you out to the curb just like that. You're still a member of the Auto Club, you're like out brother! Er, sister."

"We do have girls in the Auto Club," Husky said. "Just not a lot. In fact, I think you bring the grand total of girls up to....two."

Charley found a small laugh even as tears pricked her eyes. "You really mean it? I'm still int he Auto Club?"

"Of course, Charley!" Foale said cheerfully. "You just can't live in the dorm anymore."

"I thought as much," she muttered.

"Yeah, Varna started telling anyone who'd listen about seeing you naked in the shower"--Husky nearly wet his pants at the low growl and dark look Throttle had about him that promised Varna a world of pain as soon as the god caught him. "N-Now we've been doing our best to stop that rumor, after all, everyone knows girls can't live in the dorm."

"And its been working so far," Foale added. "And speaking of things working out, are things working out okay for you, Charley? Did you find a place to live?"

"She lives with me now," Throttle said. "We've got a place out in Rassilion Hills, so you don't need to worry about the lady's safety."

Foale and Husky exchanged looks. "Fancy digs for a college student. But what about the lady's honor?"

"The lady can take care of her own honor, thank you very much, you bunch of chauvinists," Charley snapped. "Thank you for letting me stay in the Club, and thank you for stopping the rumors. I'm very grateful. But now I need to get to class, okay? I'll see you boys later!" She waved goodbye over her shoulder as she stalked out.

Throttle looked a bit amused. "I wonder how long it will take her to realize that I still have her backpack?" Husky and Foale both laughed. They decided that they would like this new guy, and maybe see if he wanted to be in the Club.

Meanwhile, a beautiful grey-furred mouse was walking the pathes of the Campus' gardens, several besotted men following along behind her. "Miss Carbine, please go out with me!" one of the more daring males called out, holding out a bouquet of gorgeous pink-seed flowers. "So cliche," she murmured, casually brushing off the man like he was nothing as she kept walking.

Another dropped to his knees beside her path. "Please, Miss Carbine, let me take you out!" He held out large box of the finest chocolates on Mars. She deigned to try a piece, flicking her fingers in a clear dismissal. "Not up to my tastes," she said, although one couldn't tell if she meant the chocolates or the man.

This was Carbine luc Dischvion, daughter of one of the richest men on all of Mars. Her grades; top of the class. Her looks; top of the class. Her social status and power; top of the class. Whatever this girl wanted, (whether it was cars, money, or men) she got, for she was the Brimstone Institutes's undisputed Campus Queen. But, unknown to her, a wind of change was about to blow through her perfect little monarchy.

Suddenly a group of girls walked by, talking about the latest gossip. --"I mean it! He is the most gorgeous mouse I've ever seen!! He looks like a god come to Mars!"

"I know, he's so hot! He must be some kind of foreign exchange student, 'cause I've never seen him before!"

Carbine smiled at the news as the girls walked out of sight. "A new man around here that looks good enough to cause such a stir? This may be an interesting term after all."


	9. Chapter 9

I'm sorry, so sorry that this took so long. But the Muse is running amok, and has left no forwarding address.

Chapter 9

Vincent Van Wham tried very hard to ignore the eye that was glaring a smoking hole in the back of his head. He typed away diligently, still trying to make up for the mountain of paperwork Throttle hadn't been able to get finished, and do his own work as well. The white mouse could barely believe this turn of events. Throttle had to go grant a freaking Wish while working Vinnie's shift! The first Wish in hundreds of years, and the stupid girl wishes for Throttle to be with her always.

_Dumb broad probably has no idea what she roped him into. At least, I hope that's the case. Because if she did know what she was doing, we all could be in some seriously deep shit._

Vincent finally couldn't take it anymore. He whirled in his chair to face the fuming grey Martian god. "I said I was sorry!!"

"Yes. You did," Modo luc Molonave answered, not even looking at his terminal as he glared at the younger god. "You said it to me. You said it to Stoker, you said it to the Almighty, and you even said it to the girl you skipped out on work for. But you have yet to say a blessed thing to the one person who got the shaft out of all this because someone was out chasing some tail!"

Vincent had the grace to look ashamed. "I didn't know something like this would happen!"

Modo shook his head. "I know. It doesn't matter now. Now all we can do is try and get Throttle as much help as we can. From the looks of the tides of the System Force, he's already got two major problems coming, and it looks like it'll get worse later. And he's got almost one-sixtieth of his power left to use, with no money, no weapons, and living in one of Stoker's temples on Mars. Not even his _own _temple, _Stoker's _temple. Do you have any idea how humiliated the poor guy must be?"

Vincent winced. That was a very shitty situation indeed. "So what can we do?"

"Throttle's already called me with his info, so at least we got his accounts transferred before Scabbard got a hold of them," Modo said with a sigh. "He'll get some decent money to work with, but it'll take a while for it to go through. Like, four or five months at the earliest."

"Months?! Why so long?"

"You punk, how easy do you think is it to transfer funds from a divine bank to a mortal one without alerting the Accounting Department?! We have to do this in small doses and filter it through one of Stoker's transactions, and mine and yours as well."

"Cheese, all this to get the poor guy his own money?" the white-furred god said in bewilderment.

"Yep. Scabbard isn't called a Demon-God of Money for nothing," Modo said. Both gods shivered at the thought of Scabbard.

"Hey, wait. You said Throttle's about to get some problems. Anything we can do about that?" Vinnie asked, eager to somehow help his bro.

"Short of going down and helping to sort it out with him, nothing yet," Modo answered. He looked back down to his glowing terminal and then back to Vincent. "I'm going to grab some root beer, you want some?"

"Nah, I better keep working on this stuff from Throttle's desk," Vincent said. The grey god departed and the gears started to turn in Vinnie's brain. _Going down to help him, huh? That's not a bad idea!_

*&*&**&*&*&*&*

Throttle felt a chill run up his spine and glanced around the crowded classroom. _Something feels like a bad omen. No sense worrying about it now though. _The young god had other things to worry about. Like the shocking number of female Mice and Raiders that had descended upon this classroom and clustered around him like swarms of ants.

Quite frankly, Throttle didn't understand what the commotion was all about. Why were so many of these women talking about him? He was certainly not the most handsome of gods, and was currently only emitting a slight amount of godly aura. It surely wasn't enough to attract this sort of crowd. Maybe they all took this class with Charley and were wondering what he was doing around her? It would be nice to meet some of her friends; this way he could work on integrating himself into mortal society better than he currently was.

Unbeknownst to Throttle, his judgement on appearance was a bit biased. Gods of every culture and planet were beautiful, plain and simple. Often, the physical manifestations of gods were the standards by which early societies (which had actually interacted with the gods and laid eyes on them) judged beauty. Only those deities meant to instill fear or terror were ever portrayed as ugly or hideous, and even those gods had an alternate form of great beauty. While Throttle de Wryfyrn was, indeed, not the most handsome of the gods, he was much better looking to godly eyes than he thought. Mortals, with their lower standards, were nearly hypnotized by his presence.

Most of the girls had seen him walking into the Mythology class and had skipped their own classes to follow him.

Throttle currently sat next to Charley, attending the Martian Mythologies class with her. It had taken some effort to not start laughing or arguing with the book about some of the legends and stories that were grossly inaccurate. He would tell her the true stories on the way to her next class, and had no doubt that he would enjoy her reactions immensely. Some of the comments she'd made about the legends just while waiting for class to start had him nearly in tears from silent laughter.

Charley glanced at Throttle, gently tapping her pencil on the table by his arm to get his attention. "Are you alright?" she asked quietly. "You look nervous about something."

"Its nothing," he answered. "And I'd like to thank you for allowing me to come with you. I've never seen a mortal college before."

She smiled at him before glancing down at her notes. _More like I couldn't turn him down, _Charley thought a bit ruefully_. I couldn't, but, man, he sticks out like a sore thumb! He's way too good-looking to not attract attention, and attention is exactly what we don't want!_

Case in point, as the professor walked into the classroom. "Oh my. We're really packed in here today, aren't we? Most interesting." The older Mouse glanced over at the spot where a young boy usually sat, and saw a girl that could have been the boy's twin sitting there beside a very interesting-looking young Mouse. "You two, there, in the third row. You're new."

Charley nervously cleared her throat as she stood to address the teacher. "Actually, Professor, I'm still Charley Davidson. I just, um--changed my look."

The professor raised his eyebrow in mild surprise. "A most drastic change. But a positive one. And the Mouse sitting next to you?"

"Er, he--he's a--an exchange student! This is Throttle," she said, desperately praying the teacher would buy this.

"Yeah!" "Sure, he is!" "Isn't it great?!" several female voices shouted happily, blindly following Charley's lead. (And also giving in to the subtle mechanations of the System Force, unbeknownst to them.)

"Ah, I see," the professor said calmly. "Very well, I expect that his paperwork is lost in the files, like so many other things. See to it that it gets on my desk by tomorrow, understood?"

'Yes, sir," Throttle said respectfully as the older Mouse turned to start writing on the chalkboard. The god glanced at Charley, "We have a problem?"

"A very big problem," she said.

"Don't worry," said a familiar voice from behind the two. Charley and Throttle both startled as they saw a grinning Husky and Foale sitting in the row above them. The Auto Club's already got you covered! We figured you weren't a student from around here, so we took the liberty of making you one. Tomahawk's interning at the Admission's office. He's got everything stamped and processed. The only problem is getting it all into the computer system. He ain't got a high enough clearance to get the passcode," Husky sighed. He tapped the earpiece in his ear. "The guy's trying everything he knows, but no go."

"He's working on it now?" Throttle asked to clarify.

"Yeah, right now," Foale nodded.

"Hmm," Throttle nodded. _I think I can help with that_. He concentrated his power and made the command. _'All ye who would obstruct my path, Open unto me thy door! Into my hand place thee your key!'_

No one but Charley noticed Husky's earpiece glowing faintly as the spell traveled through the electric lines and to the computer where Tomahawk worked. A faint cry of triumph could be heard over the tiny phone, and Husky smiled. "Hey, he got it! Way to go, bro!" The big Mouse smiled at the two. "You're all set."

"Thank you, Husky, Foale," Throttle said politely. "We appreciate you looking out for us."

"Ah, its nothing," Foale waved it off. "We're just making sure our girl here is protected, savvy?"

Charley blushed, in both exasperated anger and exasperated affection. "For the last time, I don't need to be protected," she groused. "But thank you, guys."

They really had done a lot for her, she knew. The Auto Club had forced Audi and Varna to apologize to her, and both mice swore to not bother her again. Husky and Foale had also made sure to show their support and approval of Charley and Throttle being together, to the two's consternation. The club members were following the two around, acting like a shield between them and other people, especially the girls.

As the day went on, the closeness between Charley and Throttle was already sparking rumors all over the campus. He went with her to every single class, stopping the club members from interrupting her lunch and making sure she got the time to do her homework without interference. He would carry her bag, get her drinks, and just generally be very sweet to her. Girls all over the Institute were swooning over him, and some were even scheming to try and break the two up. But they could never get him away from her! It frustrated them to no end that the hottest male on campus was taken by some scrawny human girl.

Carbine was no exception. She had taken one good look at the male and had nearly drooled down her dress. He was perfection!! The perfect physical specimen of manhood! Even if he was an air-headed bimbo, she would have lusted after him. But then she heard him speak; so elegantly, so intelligently! He clearly was of noble breeding and high refinement. She was shocked and delighted down to her toes. He was charming and gallant, courteous and sincere. He had a wickedly sarcastic tongue when it came to those idiotic Auto Club members too! Ye gods above, he was perfect!!

So what in the hell was a guy like that doing with some no-name, penniless, crude, and horrifically plain human girl? He deserved a girl with true class, an elite! Someone with money and power and beauty, not that little grease-jockey. Oh, she would teach him the error of his ways, and he'd come running to her like all the others. Hmph. That would certainly show that little hussy who's boss.

Carbine had never heard of Charlene Davidson before, but after seeing her with Throttle, she'd looked into the girl. Came on a full scholarship program, had some of the highest entrance exam scores of the school's history, and was enrolled with 17 credit hours this semester alone (the most allowed for a freshmen). She'd already enrolled in summer courses even. But the girl was living on a strict allowance, and her scholarship depended on her keeping a GPA of 3.9 or higher.

Charlene had almost no social life outside of the Auto Club, and was one of its only female members. But those that had met her all claimed that she was a sweet girl, oh so nice and polite. How in the world did someone so boring bag a guy like Throttle? Carbine wondered.

Carbine glance over her shoulder to where the two were sitting on the campus lawn, eating lunch. She was determine to catch the newest man on campus, and she would not be denied!

Throttle held out an old fashioned wooden case, the insides packed with thin sheets of ice between the wooden slats to keep the food within cold. "Here you go, Charley. Lunch is served."

The human girl marveled at the box's contents. Thick cold cuts of roast meat, slices of crusty bread, slices of veggies and pickles, and even some small pieces of cake filled the case. "Throttle, that's amazing!! You"--she found herself blushing, "you made this for me? Thank you."

The god returned the blush, still not used to compliments on his 'unmanly' hobby. "Ah, you're welcome."

"Did you make it with your powers?" she asked curiously.

"Oh no," he answered. "I made this the old fashioned way. Madam Molonave would have my tail for a belt if I cheated like that."

"Madam Molonave?"

"My bro Modo's mother."

"Modo luc Molonave?"

"Indeed," he smiled. "At least that book got the names right"--

"_Attention! Attention!! Would Charley Davidson please report to the Martian Mythologies class room at once!!" _the words blared over the campus' intercom system.

She startled a bit, but rose to leave. "Huh, I wonder what that's about."

"Would you like me to come along?" Throttle asked.

"No, I'll be fine," she said. "I'll be back in a bit. Go ahead and get started eating." The girl hurried off to see what her professor wanted.

Carbine smiled as she walked up to the Martian god. "Hello there."

Throttle gave a polite nod. "Hello miss."

"Oh please, call me Carbine. Carbine luc Dischvion, a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine," he replied. "My name is Throttle."

"What a unique name," she said. "You were named for the god?"

"You could say that," Throttle answered, smiling wryly.

"Its nice to meet the new transfer student. I hope you're enjoying your time on campus? I'm on the new arrival welcoming committee, but I never heard about your coming. Please forgive the lapse of courtesy," she said sincerely. _If I'd known a hottie like you was coming, no one would have ever had a shot at snagging you first!_

"Oh no, its been wonderful," he assured her. "My new friends have been more than enough to show me around the Institute. I've had a great time so far, and I'm eager to learn more about this place."

"I'm so glad you chose our school to attend," she said graciously. She mock frowned in concern. "I noticed that human girl left you here alone. Is she your escort?" she asked.

"Escort? Oh no, we're not courting," he replied. "Nothing of the sort."

"Forgive me for being so forward, but word of your interactions with her have spread all over the Institute. May I ask what your relationship is?" she asked sweetly. _Not dating, eh? That Terran must be out of her mind! With no emotional attachments to her, he's totally free! The battle's all but won!_

Throttle stiffened slightly. _Wait, what is this? Why do I feel this sudden premonition? _he thought in worry. He decided to wrap this up quickly, and try to get the nosy girl away from him. "I--the lady and I are friends, Miss Dischvion."

"I see," she said delightedly. "Then perhaps you would be available to take me out later on this"---

A sudden deluge of water dumped over Carbine's head, soaking her from head to toe. A student leaned out the window above them holding a now empty bucket, calling out, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see anyone down there! You alright?"

"I--I'm fine," Carbine said, sputtering a bit as she flicked wet hair out of her face.

_That was the System Force at work! _Throttle thought in surprise. _It must have activated because Carbine wants to force me away from Charley_. "Are you sure you're unharmed, Miss Dischvion?"

"Perfectly alright," she said, her voice becoming clipped. "Please excuse me, I must go get changed. It was nice to meet you, Throttle. I hope we get the chance to talk some more. Goodbye."

The young god stared after her. "Goodbye, Miss."

Charley walked back to the grassy spot, a slight frown of confusion on her face. The teacher said that he hadn't paged her at all, so what was the announcement for? Who would prank her like that, if it was a prank? She walked past a soaking-wet Carbine, doing a double-take in surprise at the woman's appearance. The human continued walking toward Throttle and saw the concern on the god's face. "Throttle? What is it, what's wrong?"

"That woman, Carbine," Throttle said soflty. "She's in grave danger."

"Huh?! But why?" Charley asked, worried.

"You remember when I told you about the System Force, correct?"

"The power that enforces my Wish to be with you always," Charley replied.

"Well, the System Force doesn't always work at the same level," he explained. "If the force that's trying to separate us is weak, then it is weak. But if the separating force is strong, then the System Force grows in proportion to that threat. When its on a low level, the System Force can't really do much harm. But if that woman's desire to separate us should strengthen further, she could end up putting herself in mortal peril."


	10. Chapter 10

Co-written with Kashito91. Thanks Matt.

Oh My Biker Gods

Chapter 10

Charley smiled as she sat in the warm sunshine. Throttle was laid out on the ground next to her, positively basking in the sun as the smell of cut grass filled the air. She closed her eyes, letting the sun's warmth chase away the chill of her previous class room's atmosphere. Books and papers were scattered around them, the special ice box with their lunch off to the side. They were done with class for the day, and now it was time to finish up the last of the homework and soak up some nature for awhile.

Throttle stretched out and tucked his hands under his head. "Are you finished with your math, Charley?"

"Finally," she said, moving her arms and laying down beside him on the soft grass. "Its been so long since I got a chance to just sit back and relax!"

Throttle smiled at her, his head next to her shoulder. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself." He suddenly frowned. "Is your ankle feeling better?"

"Much better," she said, absently glancing down to her left ankle that was wrapped in tight white bandages. She gave him a look. "It wasn't your fault."

"Managing the System Force is my job," Throttle replied, a guilty look creeping on his face. "It should never have rebounded on you like that."

'You know, despite all her scheming, I still feel a bit sorry for Carbine," Charley said with a small frown. "All that bad luck at once. And she nearly died!"

"Its her own fault," Throttle said in exasperation. "I don't understand how you can feel sorry for her after what she did. If she would just leave us alone, none of it would have happened!"

Carbine had, for the last three weeks, been positively relentless in her efforts to get Throttle away from Charlene. She'd asked him out on dates, several times while Charley was right beside him, all the while saying that he deserved someone more 'elite' to be around. Oh, it had taken effort at first for the human girl to not punch that pretty furry face in. If it had just stayed with insults, she would have been fine with it. But then Carbine even had all her classes transferred over to match theirs, which convinced Charley that the female was quickly becoming a stalker. She was always around wherever they went unless it was back home to the temple, (which the grey female hadn't been able to find thanks to Throttle's many wards). Carbine had even bribed the school's PA announcer to have Throttle show up at empty classrooms so she could get him alone.

Charley had quickly started the process of getting a restraining order put on her.

But it was too little, too late. By then, Carbine had starting to pay guys mob Charley with job requests to repair bikes, cars, hoverboards, and even a go-kart to keep her too busy to see Throttle. She had Charley's bookbag stolen, her laptop tossed in a lake and thus ruined homework and projects months in the making, all to sabotage the all-important GPA that Charley needed to keep her scholarship. Thank heaven for Throttle being able to salvage the work with his abilities, or the human would have been in serious trouble.

None of the events could be proven to have been done by Carbine, of course. As Charley had gotten more and more in danger, Carbine had been trying harder and harder to charm Throttle, clearly giving her an alibi, if not any success. Her efforts to win him over had quickly degraded to trying to manipulate him, manipulating him through subtle threats to Charley's scholarship, and finally to an odd form of bribery. Throughout the entire debacle, Throttle did nothing unless the shenanagians threatened Charlene.

For the most part, he didn't have to do anything. The System Force was having a feild day with the so-called 'Campus Queen'.

Her dresses had spontaneously torn all the way up the back, showing her panties and lack of a bra to everyone. Twice. Her car had blown out eight tires over the course of three days. It had stalled twice, the transmission fell out of the engine, and the brakes had gone out no less than nine times. Only quick intervention from Throttle (due to Charley begging him to not let the stubbon grey female get killed) had saved her life.

But then Carbine had done something that no one would ahve thought her desperate enough to do. The Martian had a few thugs kidnap Charlene, knock her out, and lock her in a closet for almost two hours. All to keep the human away from Throttle so that Carbine could try to dose him with a new kind of aphrodesiac drug that had been guaranteed to get results.

That had been the worst mistake she could have made. The drugs had no effect on the god; all it had done was make him angry. He'd completely lost his patience with the mortal, and had channeled the building's energy to power a basic telepathy spell to find out what else Carbine was up to. The microsecond the god had found out what had been done to his human contractor -

Throttle had nearly torn the campus apart to find his human girl. The whole time she had been missing, lighting had destroyed three trees on campus and pounding rain and hail had smashed across the college, baffling weather forecasters that had promised clear skies for at least a week.

That had been the last straw as far as he was concerned. All his mercy was dried up at the sight of his human girl, unconscious, bound and gagged in a tiny broom closet with torn clothing and a growing bruise on her face.

After he had gotten her out of there and saw to her injuries, he'd immediately gone to confront the Martian female. He'd found her at the main campus hall at the top of the entryway's stairs, and had told her flat out that he would never even consider going out with her. (The language he'd used had been nowhere near that polite.) The System Force had been positively churning around the campus at Throttle's anger, surging out to make bookbags tear, cars stall, bike tires go flat, computers crash, and tree branches fall all over the college. Charley had followed after Throttle, dispite his request for her to stay out of it, to try and prevent anything too crazy from happening to innocent people. She was the only mortal on campus that could see the System Force at work, and had tried to help people all over campus. Her unlucky stars were in fine form that day, attracting the System Force onto her in the place of the other people.

By the time she'd reached Throttle and Carbine, Charlene had been covered in dirt, scratches, and her clothing was torn, her books were in tatters, her hair singed, and one of her shoes was missing. And on seeing the System Force cracking the stone steps beneath Carbine's feet, the human had raced up the stairs and grabbed the Martian to stop her from falling. By swinging her weight to force the grey mouse backwards, Charley had been the one that was sent down the stairs, nearly breaking her ankle. Carbine had been stunned silent at the human's kindness, and had been utterly terrified at the furious look Throttle had sent her. After that, Carbine had made it her policy to avoid the two of them.

For now.

But once that new plan of hers went through...

All bets were off.

Throttle noticed Charley wince as she shifted her leg. He got up from the ground and moved to cradle her ankle in his lap. "Throttle?" she asked, a soft blush on her cheeks from his touch.

"Its alright, no one can see," he said quietly, his hands glowing softly green as he cupped her ankle. At the angle he was covering her injury, no one else could see what he was doing. She sighed in relief as his powers soothed the hurt, slowly speeding up her healing rate. Since she was so badly injured in public, Throttle couldn't just instantly heal it like he wanted to. So he settled for helping her heal faster, so everyone could see her injury getting better.

"Charley? Charley, is that you?" a voice said in surprise.

She suddenly looked up to see a very good friend. "Matt! Its so good to see you!" she said, a huge smile growing on her face. Matt was tall for a mouse at 6 feet, 5 inches, and was tan furred with golden patches on his chest, tail, and his arms and legs. They'd met in a mixed media class, and he'd agreed to help the human girl with her video editting if she would work on his beloved Ferrari Daytona car, an antique from Earth. The arrangement worked out perfectly, and a good friendship had sprung up between them.

"Its good to see you too," the young male said. He eyed the tan mouse that was helping her to stand to greet him properly, and embraced the human girl with a hug as soon as he could. When they parted, he turned to face this new mouse. "Will you introduce me to your new friend?"

"Oh yes! Matt, this is Throttle. Throttle, this is Matt Bond. He's been a friend for years."

"Its a pleasure to meet you," Throttle said politley.

"You as well," Matt said a bit cautiously. Throttle suddenly got the impression of worry for Charley from Matt's aura, and even something like...pride? _He knew, _the god concluded_. He knew the whole time that she was a girl and he did not reveal her. He's proud that she's being honest, and worried for what might happen to her now. _

"Matt, you were gone for so long, how have you been?" she asked.

"Its been good. I liked it at Tharsis Academy, don't get me wrong, but Brimstone has the best recording studio in the country, so I transfered back," he said with a shrug and a smile. "And I missed my friends here. The band welcomed me back with open arms, thank god. You'll come see us play again, right?"

"Are you still at The Thorny Ball?"

He laughed, "Of course! No one welcomes Concord Park like the Ball."

"The Thorny Ball?" Throttle asked, one eyebrow arched in confusion.

"Oh its this great bar a few miles off campus"-

A low sound suddenly filled the air. Throttle and Charley both looked around, several of the other people around them doing the same. Matt made a sound of utter shock as he pointed up to the sky. A flash of light made them all look.

It looked like a flaming comet was shooting across the sky, and to the shock of everyone, they could clearly hear _'The Ride of the Valkyries' _playing loudly from somewhere. Charley blinked hard as she would have sworn it looked just like a white mouse with blue jeans and no shirt on a red racing bike with firey wheels and burning smoke. She glanced around, shocked no one else was reacting to the sight of him. Unknown to her, her connection to the Martian god allowed her some of his god-sight, and thus she could see what no other mortal could. All the other people on campus just saw a regular comet.

A sudden howl of sound, a long "AWWOWOWOOO!" rang throught the air. Throttle just stared for a second. "...what the fragging hell...I'm going to kill him." One could almost see the fire starting to burn in his eyes.

"Throttle? Who is that?" Charley asked, alarmed at his tone.

"Its Vinnie," he said with a growl.

"Vinnie?"

"Vincent Van Wham," Throttle answered. "The single biggest show off in the history of godkind." He couldn't help his angry growl. "Have you ever had one of those friends where, even though they are really fun, most of the time you want to beat the tar out of them? He pointed at the sky, "Vincent Van Wham, the god of scouts, runners, theives and general pain in the tail... I am going to kill him for this one."

"...I have one of those friends back on Earth," she said grimly. "Massive property damage wherever they go, right? And what the hell is he doing coming in a comet?"

He sighed. "Don't ask, long story...I'll explain after I cave his skull in...I'm going to need anger management after this," Throttle growled. His eyes were almost on fire, he was so angry.

"Easy there, big guy. Remember, we're surrounded by people," she said, touching his shoulder. "Save it for when we get home." She frowned. "What is wrong with this picture? A fiery comet is heading for" - taking note of the bike's trajectory she did some mental calculations - "if he keeps going at that angle, he'll land right in the parking lot. Why is no one running" - Sirens suddenly rang out across the campus, and then people started moving, screaming as they ran. Dozens ran for the buildings while others tried to get to their cars and bikes. "Me and my big mouth."

Matt, who hadn't noticed their talk as he was too focused on the 'comet,' seemed to realize its trajectory too. "My car!" he cried. "Hold on, I'm coming, baby!" He sprinted for the parking lot.

The 'comet' hit a few seconds later, a huge mushroom cloud rising over the parking lot. Throttle easily lifted Charley up with his tail into his arms and raced over to the impact site, using god-speed to appear beside Matt as if they'd run beside him. Matt didn't even notice and was positively shaking in relief as he hugged the hood of his neon green car. "Oh you're safe, praise be to whichever god watches over totally awesome cars..."

"I swear to the Almighty, I'm going to kill Vincent," Throttle murmured in Charley's ear as he gently set her down. A large crowd started to gather at the impact site, and the dust and smoke was finally was starting to clear. A siren sounded off in the distance, gradually growing louder as the fire trucks drew closer. Cell phones were out everywhere, students snapping pictures or texting and calling their freinds about the latest happenings. Throttle couldn't help a long groan of exasperation. _Keep a low profile, he says. Try to blend in, he says. Then Stoker has a blonde moment and lets the Velocity Atrocity come to Mars. Almighty help them by the time I get through with them!_

Charley stared into the dust and smoke. A lone figure was swaggering out of the debris, a red AI bike slowly rolling beside him. He was a few inches shorter than Throttle and built a bit leaner, more for speed and agility, but his body was no less defined with godly muscles and a physique that already had girls blushing. He had no headfur, but a metal mask that covered half his face. A plantinum ring was on each antenna, three golen hoops in each ear, and a single blood red triangle was inverted under his left eye. He wore green bandoleers that crossed over his sculpted chest, with a black belt over dark blue jeans and black boots, along with fingerless gloves on each hand. His bike was a gorgeous red racing bike, with what looked like enough horsepower to drag an elephant around without even revving the engine. He looked powerful and dangerous, and if she remembered her Martian Mythologies correctly, he had an infamous temper problem. This was not a Mouse to treat lightly.

And then he opened his mouth and blew that preconception right out of the water. "AWOWOAAH! Was that a great landing or what? Did you see me make that sweet touchdown, bro? Haha!" The white mouse walked over to Throttle and Charlene, a smirk on his half-masked face as he stood very close to the human. "Hey there, girly. You're a lot prettier than I thought you'd be, way to go, Leader-boy."

Throttle shook his head at his younger bro's antics even as he flicked a wrist to cast a temporary privacy ward around them. "You think you're funny, don't you? What the hell were you thinking, coming in like that? ! In the middle of a crowded area, surrounded by mortals, and you pull a stunt like this? !"

Vinnie just smirked at him. "Anyone ever tell you to lighten up, bro?"

Throttle glared, his right hand already starting to crackly with energy. "You nearly exposed us to everyone here. The Laws of the Almighty are clear; we're not allowed to expose ourselves to mortals unless its by Divine Will. You. Know. That."

Vinnie just kept smirking. "Just admit that you have a problem with being uptight. Admit it. You desperately need to get laid. That would solve so many of your problems."

Throttle's entire body tensed, the electric energy making his fur stand on end. "Vincent, you are a dead mouse"-

Charlene had had enough of this. She ignored the energy gathering on his body and grabbed his arm. She missed the shocked look on Vinnie's face as she did so. "Throttle, this is not the time or the place for this. I'm done for the day, and we're going home. Now. You," she looked at Vincent with a glare. "Be nice. God or not, if you make trouble here, you will get your tail stomped, I don't care how I have to do it. Throttle," she looked back at him, and her look softened slightly. "Just a little longer, okay? Just until we make it home. Calm down, alright Throttle? Calm down, easy now."

Slowly, his breathing evened out, and his electricity faded away. "Thanks, Charley-girl," he said gruffly, not happy with his loss of control. It didn't stop him from giving Vinnie a hard look. "I'd better do this while we're still on neutral ground. Let me properly introduce you," he bit out. "Vincent, this is the Lady Charlene Davidson. Charely, this is"-

"Vincent Van Wham, at your service," the white god took hold of Charley's hand and kissed the back of it gallantly. He smiled at her light blush, then glanced at his glaring bro. "And yours too, Throttle," he added cheerfully. "I don't get why you're so angry. I come bearing gifts of health, wealth, and good-fortune! Oh, I might have taken out some kind of car in the landing though, sorry about that," he said, not sounding sorry at all.

Carbine, drawn by the noise and commotion, stared in utter horror. It was completely, utterly crushed flat as a pancake-"My car! My brand new, two-hundred eighty thousand dollar car! What happened to it? !"

Throttle found a smile in the midst of his rapidly growing headache. "That does count as good fortune, Vin, I'll give you that."

"Thought you'd appreciate it, bro," the Martian god replied with a grin. "After all the effort you put into the System Force to get rid of her, I figured a little divine intervention couldn't hurt."

"You-you wouldn't have really hurt her, would you?" Charley asked, still not letting go of the tan god's arm.

Vincent gave her a puzzled look. "She wished you actual physical harm, you know that, right? Or at the very least some kind of abject humiliation, and you still are worried about her safety?"

"She-I-I don't know, okay?" the girl said, flustered. "I just don't want her to get hurt on my account. Its not her fault she's up against gods."

Vincent and Throttle both frowned at that, the tan god picking her up with casual ease (that Vincent took careful note of) and carried her out of the crowd and over to their books and bags to pack up, the other god close behind them. "Look, Charley, that's not how it works," Throttle explained. "This isn't some kind of petty vengence or spiteful game. This is very serious."

"No foolin'," Vinnie nodded. "I just got here, and while I might not know this Carbine chick, I can practically smell the bad vibes she's giving off. She's sending out so much that she's literally inviting the System Force, er, I think you humans call it Karma, to come back and bite her in the butt."

"Now I grant you, that her desire to separate us being as strong as it is, is a very sizeable part of why the System Force is reacting as strongly as it is," Throttle continued, easily carrying her bags as they walked to his bike, Vinnie's racer following faithfully along. "But the sheer amount of the incidents is due more to the natural fluctuations of the Force. She has sent out a lot of ill-will in her life time and now its being returned to her, tenfold. The Universe is reacting accordingly."

Vincent rolled his eyes at his friend's wordy language. "In laymen's terms, she's been such a self-righteous bitch to just about everyone she's ever met that all of this is nothing more than her getting hers a little earlier than scheduled," he drawled. The god frowned a bit as he saw Charlene limp along on her crutches. "Hey man, can't you do anyting about this?" he pointed to her ankle. "I know you know more about healing spells and charms than I do, and even I can do better than that."

"He's been helping me," Charley said before Throttle could yell at him.

"Really?" The white mouse asked with a dubious look at her wrappings.

"Unlike some people, I know how to be subtle with my powers," Throttle said, forcefully stomping down the urge to kick Vincent in the teeth.

"Too many people saw me get injured," she pointed out. "If I was suddenly all better, they'd get suspicious. We're trying to not attract attention."

"Aw, that's boring!" Vinnie complained as he mounted his bike.

"Can we just save it until we get home?" Charley murmured, leaning against Throttle's back as she listened to the two gods bicker.

Forty-five minutes later, the group reached the temple. Vinnie ran his bike up the temple steps and into the courtyard, ignoring Charley's shocked gasp at his audacity. She glanced at Throttle, who was already getting another tic under his eye. "Stoker's going to whip his tail, isn't he?"

"Oh, Stoker won't even get the chance," Throttle muttered, parking his bike in the newly built garage and walking with her up the steps. She glanced over at the tan god. "So where are we going to put him?"


	11. Chapter 11

A double-sized chapter for you all! Enjoy!

Co-written with Kashito91! Much love and kudos to you, my dear friend for helping me write this out, despite being on the other side of the world. Thanks for the late nights and early monings; massive hugs and bags of candy for you!

Chapter 11

A lone figure stared after the two gods and one human as they left the campus that day. The male frowned, certain that he knew the two from somewhere. That never boded well for him, to forget someone's face meant that he could be stabbed in the back as soon as they left his sight. He followed after them, silently casting his own wards to keep his demonic aura hidden from the two males. But when he got a better look at their faces, he smirked in recognition. Oh, this was going to be so much fun when it all came out.

The figure was tall, 7 feet 2 inches, built long and lean with muscles that rippled dangerously under his short grey fur. Black lines went down from his smaller, more pointed ears to his shoulders, down his arms to the backs of his hands, and down to the tops of his feet. His muzzle was longer than a mouse's, more pointed, and while he had no buck teeth, his canines were sharp and short. No antennae graced his head, but deep blue markings shaped like teeth went from the end of his muzzle to the back of his ears. And his eyes were the color of blood. He wore a black muscle shirt and dark blue jeans, with grey snake-skin boots on his feet. No one around seemed to notice the rat, but everyone unconsciously parted before him as he moved.

The male casually walked back into the crowd, searching for one face in particular. He found the mouse he was looking for in the place he knew he would find him. His long, light grey, hairless tail twitched in irritation, and he couldn't help his exasperation when he spoke, "For Hell's sake, Matt, stop having sex with your car and show a little dignity."

"Infidel," Matt muttered, straightening from the crouch where he'd been polishing off the smoke and dirt from the earlier comet impact. "You just have no appreciation for the finer things in life."

"I appreciate sleep, whiskey, good food, and sex. _Those _are the finer things in life. That rust bucket you insist on keeping is not," the other male said with a roll of his eyes.

Matt glared. "You have been downgraded from 'infidel' to 'bastard' again."

The rat sent him an innocent look. "But I knew who my parents were."

"Sarcastic son of a bitch," Matt muttered as he went back over to the tree where he'd left his bookbag.

"And so very proud of it," the other said with unmistakeable smugness. "So that was your little friend Charley?"

"You saw her?" Matt asked in some surprise. "Its too bad she left so quickly, I didn't get a chance to introduce you."

The rat smiled "So you are going to introduce us? Tired of keeping me a secret?"

"You're not a secret," Matt said dryly. "You are a Level 7 Classified. But Charley's cool. I've been wanting to introduce you two for a while now, but somebody is always at work," he sent a look to the rat.

The taller male chuckled. "You might want to hold off on that introduction for a while. Or at least wait until you can guarantee that she'll be alone for a couple of hours."

Matt frowned. "Why's that?"

Mace simply smiled. "Lets just say, she keeps some interesting company."

!#$%^&*()

_Back at the temple_

Throttle stopped, turned, and stared at Charley in horror before he suddenly started laughing. "Oh, oh sweet Almighty," he gasped, "I thought you were serious there for a minute. Vinnie? Stay here? That's a good one!"

She startled a bit at his tone. "But where else is he going to stay?"

"Not here," Throttle said firmly as he gently picked her up to save her the trip up the stairs. "Heaven above and below,_ not here_. I'd rather a Demon of the UnderRealm move in than Vincent. Don't get me wrong, I love him like a brother, but no. I lived with him for six years during training, and I will not do it again."

"Oh," she said in understanding. "He's a bad roommate."

"To say the least," Throttle said as they reached the top of the stairs. With gentle care he set her down, his tail handing her the crutches. She had just set them under her arms when with a sharp crack, they both snapped and sent her to the ground. Both of them stared in shock. "What-why did they-"-she looked at him in bewildered surprise.

"Are you alright?" Throttle asked, hurrying to help her up. But his foot caught on a crack in the stone walkway and he tripped, landing right on top of her. She stared up at him in surprise. "Wow. Right when I was starting to get used to this sort of thing not happening anymore," she said quietly.

"My landing on you? That's only happened once before," Throttle said softly. The mouse felt a blush beginning to work up his cheeks as he saw her lying beneath him. He moved quickly off her and this time made sure she was standing first before he tried to get up.

"No," she said with a small sigh. "The tripping over nothing and falling all the time. Almost all of that stopped when you came."

He frowned. "That was no doubt from the influence of your unlucky stars. But with myself around, it should ward off any ill-luck you would have." His frown deepened. "Unless-"-

"Hey you hairy lot! You coming up here or what?" Vincent hollered from across the courtyard.

Throttle's eyebrow twitched, before he relaxed a bit. "That's right. We're home now." He grinned manically. "I can smash his head in now!" He began to slowly walk over to the white-furred mouse, his Knuk-Nuks already charging up.

Vinnie seemed to sense that he was in trouble and fumbled for the storage compartment of his bike. "Wait, wait! Gifts! Gifts, remember!" He pulled out a bank account book and tossed it to Throttle. "Look bro, see? 40,000 right out from under Scabbard's whiskers." Vincent pulled out a duffel bag and tossed it to him as well. "And all your stuff too. Well, most of it. Your clothes anyway. I think your music player's in there, and I made sure your game console's there."

Throttle's glove retracted its energy as he caught his gear and the tan god looked much happier. "Finally!"

Charley smiled. "Hey, now you can buy a bigger bed."

Throttle laughed at the reference to the shower incident, as he called it, from their second day together. "Yeah, that would be nice."

Vinnie's grin was very cheesy as he watched the interaction between the two. "A bigger bed, eh? And why would you two need a bigger bed?"

Throttle almost teleported, he moved so fast, and stepped behind Vincent to give him a thundering smack upside his head. "OOOOWW! Cheeze, what was that for?"

"For being perverted," Throttle muttered.

Charley laughed softly, and did her best to go to the kitchen on the biggest piece of what was left of the crutches. "And on that note-whoa!" She barely caught herself in time as the peice slipped on a patch of water. The human girl just shook her head, far too used to misfortune to comment on it. "I'm going to head to the kitchen and grab a snack."

Throttle stared after her silently until the door had closed. He glanced over at Vincent. "Did you see that?"

Vinnie nodded. "All the bad luck's back. Your god-aura isn't protecting her anymore."

"I don't understand it," Throttle said in frustration. "I don't know why this is happening."

The white-furred god gave him a considering look. "Its because you can't protect her and maintain your wards at the same time; you don't have enough power without the System Force to suppliment it. The System Force isn't around her anymore for you to draw off of. That's part of the reason why I'm here. The System crashed earlier today for the entire city of Brimstone. The readings seemed to indicate some kind of huge surge that might have strained the system to that point," he said with a sarcastic tone as he looked at his bro.

Throttle blushed in shame. He'd completely lost his temper, for the first time in centuries, and had no real excuse for it. (None that he would admit to, anyway.)

Vinnie arced an eyebrow. "I thought I was the one with the temper, bro. What's going on with you two?"

"Nothing is going on with me and Charley."

The younger god laughed outright. "You think I'm blind, Throttle? I've been here not even two hours and I can tell something's up. Not to mention its the talk of the Heavens."

"The Heavens?" Throttle said in horror. "Why? How?"

"A giant disturbance in the System Force gets a lot of attention," Vinnie said with a shrug. "Dozens of gods and messengers caught that, and I have no doubt it registered in the UnderRealm too. The Heavens already rewound the surveillance and saw the whole thing, and the Demons-well, you know how that will go down."

"Oh, no," Throttle muttered, the true depth of how badly he's messed up becoming apparent to him. The UnderRealm was the home of the Demons, Devils, and various Summons and Monsters. Human, Mice, Rats, and Sand Raiders called it Hell. If his actions with the System Force registered all the way to that dimension, he was in deep trouble. Demons and Devils would be trying to find out what caused a disturbance of that size. The last time anything like this had happened was almost 600 years ago, during the last War.

"Oh yeah," Vinnie said, shaking his head. "I'm supposed to give you a big lecture on responsibility and discretion, and all kinds of mature crap like that."

Throttle was gaping now. "You flew down on a firey comet, and you're supposed to give me a lecture on discretion? ...what is Stoker putting in that pipe of his?"

"You wonder about that too?" Vinnie asked with a laugh.

Throttle shook his head, "That doesn't explain why you're here," he said. "You could have just sent a message or called. Why are you here?"

"Does it always have to be some big reason with you?"

"Vincent," Throttle said sternly.

Vinnie looked away from his friend and muttered, "I...I wanted to say that i'm sorry."

Throttle froze. "What?"

"I wanted to say I'm sorry, alright?" Vinnie said louder. "You don't just call something like that in, frag it. I'm the one that asked you to work that night. It was supposed to be my shift, and I made you take my spot. This wouldn't have happened if I had just missed that date."

"She dumped you, huh?"

"Yeah, but that's not important," Vinnie groused.

"I know, bro," Throttle said gruffly. "It wasn't your fault. And things didn't turn out so bad," he said with a glance towards the kitchen.

Vinnie saw his look and cocked an eyebrow, following his bro inside to grab something to eat. This mortal girl, Charlene Davidson, had touched a god when his battle aura was energized to attack anything that came near, and nothing happened to her. _Throttle's already started to accept her, and from what I saw with the System Force, he's already started to care about her. Now if we can just get things moving a little faster with those two. But how to do it? Hmmm..."_

!#$%^&*()

Three days later, Charlene was still being cursed with all the bad luck three stars of ill-fortune could muster. Short of killing her, that is, but it seemed like the twinkling bastards were working up to it. Vincent was still trying to help protect the girl by getting the System Force back up from here on Mars with no success, and Throttle-

-was just trying to keep the poor girl alive.

The diffculty of that one little job was driving everyone nuts. Two gods were stymed on how to make any of it stop without help. Matt was completely stunned at the run of bad luck, along with the entire Auto Club. Stone stairs had crumbled beneath her feet, tree limbs spontaneously fell, cars lost all brake control near her (making the parking lot completely off limits to the girl), her bike wouldn't even start, and Almighty above, don't even get the poor girl started on the incredible hazards of class room desks! Vincent was of the firm belief that if this was what the girl had to deal with for nearly all her life, it was nothing short of a miracle that she was still alive. No wonder the Almighty had granted her a Wish.

Charlene was resigned to her bad luck, as she always had been. But all of this coming at once had made her pretty depressed. Her best friend Matt then decided that she was in desperate need of cheering up. And he knew just the thing to make it happen.

Husky stopped by the last class Charley had for the day, the big mouse smiling as he handed her a wrapped package. "Special delivery, Lady Charley!"

"Thanks, Husky! What the occassion?" she asked, tearing open the paper.

"Oh, that's not from me," the brown mouse said with a chuckle. "That would be from our boy Matt. Seems to me like he finally finished that little project of yours."

The girl blinked in surprise, then gasped. "No! You mean he really"-she opened the box and pulled out an old-fashioned CB radio with a note saying "Channel 3".When she turned it on, Stokowski's transcription of Toccata and Fugue sang out, and after listening to it for a bit, they suddenly heard the sound of an engine. "He did. Oh my god, he really did it!" the girl said happily. She limped quickly over to the hall window, leaning out to look up into the sky.

Throttle gave a questioning look to Vincent, who just shrugged. They then turned to Husky, who grinned. "Our boy Matt, he's finally finished his baby. They built everything according to the schematics, the entire thing by hand. Him and Charley worked on this for over a year! He must have finally finished it up while he was out at Tharsis Academy."

"Finished what?" Vinnie asked

"The H1 Racer Plane!" Husky crowed in rapture. He went over to the window with Charley, the gods following. When they turned to look, the H1 airplane, the fastest private plane Earth ever produced, went zooming over the campus. It was originally made by a famous builder named Howard Hughes, and was considered the fastest plane of its day, and only military-made planes ever surpassed it in speed. Charley immediately turned on the radio's communicator. "Congradulations Matt!" she called, smiling wide for her best friend's dream being acheived. It was a gorgeous silver plane with dark blue accents, the wings long and tapered, the propeller spinning at a blurring rate.

Matt's voice sounded from the radio, "Hey pretty-girl! How would you like to soar the skies with me on the second leg of her maiden voyage? I think this little lady would like to have her other builder with me on her first flight!" She instantly said yes, and the young mouse quickly banked left to land in a feild nearby.

Charley was moving before Throttle could stop her, hitching a ride with Husky on his trike and heading for the landing feild 2 miles from campus. Vincent was excited about seeing an antique like that fly again, while Throttle was starting to fume angrily. The Auto Club boys were called by Husky and most were going insane on seeing the H1 fly. They were already taking out cameras and digital recorders, taking pictures like crazy! Varna had already called their Club's teacher affiliate, the metal shop teacher Mr. Coil, who was joining in the Club's celebration. Foale summed up the club's feelings the best. He wiped manly tears from his eyes as he sincerely admired the sheer effort and love it took to build such a machine by hand from blueprints more than 300 years old.

Husky arrived there first, just fast enough for Charley to be right by the plane before Throttle could reach her. Matt had the plane's propeller still going as he helped her into the plane and helping her strap in, both of them grinning like maniacs as they zoomed off into the sky. The entire Auto Club had turned out to watch and cheer them on. Several other students from the Institute were there as well, and the air was filled with a great excitement.

The commotion had drawn Mace to the feild as well, curious as to what his mortal companion was up to now. _I'm gone for three days and he goes out and pulls this, _the rat mused. Matt had spent more than a year collecting parts and customizing his special project, working with Charley for months to get everything together, and the original maiden flight was supposed to be a bit more private. Oh well, at least Matt was having fun-And then Mace spotted Charlene in the passenger seat. His eyes went wide in shock, and then his hands were moving, frantically casting another privacy ward around himself and then firing off spells at a rapid-fire rate. Right now, that girl could get Matt killed! She had two-blazing hells, she had _**three **_unlucky stars going full out, pouring ill-fortune and bad luck on her like a deranged waterfall!

He poured power into the wards and protective spells he'd already cast over Matt, adding new ones and already feeling the drain as he forced the ill-luck away from them. He panted, leaning against a tree as he tried to recover his strength to cast more wards. But his energy was used up. His powers could only protect them so much against three stars. Now it was up to Matt and Charley.

While Mace was working, Throttle looked like he wanted nothing more than to kill someone in the most violent manner possible. Vinnie looked at him in confusion, "I know you don't like the party scene all that much, but this is ridiculous. What's your problem?"

Throttle turned and stared at the white furred god in disbelief. "Hello? She's in a homemade airplane! The System Force is down, my aura can't protect her, and all three of her unlucky stars are out in full force! How is disaster not going to strike?" he bit out.

Vincent just blinked in realization. "Oh. Shit."

To both gods' shock, the flight went without a hitch as Matt soared over the campus and the desert plains around it, all in an effort to cheer his friend up. And it was working. Charley was laughing and joking with Matt like she hadn't for days. It wasn't until they were about to come in for the landing, that the plane ran out of fuel. Matt glanced down at the fuel gauge, wondering how much longer he could keep the flight going and keep enough fuel left to get home, and gasped in horror at the needle pointing at empty. "Oh shit," he muttered, and quickly leaned back to tell Charley what was wrong.

She handled it rather well. "What? Are you kidding me? Hell's bells, Matt! Okay, what do you need me to do?" she asked, forcing herself to calm down.

"Right now, you can't really do anything except strap in tight," he said, easing the plane into position. He flipped on the radio and filled Husky in on the situation. The Auto Club president immediately got the group organized to meet them at another landing site. "We don't have enough fuel to make it back to the landing feild, so we'll have to glide down in the desert. The sand will cushion us and we shouldn't take as much damage as we would on the strip. Don't worry, we can reach that far," Mat said to Charley.

She shook her head as she braced herself in the seat. "Matt, I can definately say that life with you is never boring!"

"Thanks, doll, now hold on tight!" Matt eased the wheel down to a better angle, praying this wouldn't tear up his plane too much. Oh, and that they both survived the landing too. With a lurch, the plane's outer skin met the sandy plain, rocks kicking up and sand flying behind them in a red cloud. Both pilot and passenger were jerked and bounced in their seats as gravity and velocity kept a firm grip on their ride. They spun on the ground wildly for a moment, gouging a huge trench in the ground before finally slowing to a stop.

Matt yanked off his harness and immediately checked on the girl behind him. "You alright, Charley?"

"I'm fine," she said shakily. "And you, Matt?"

"I'm a bit banged around, but good," he said with a smile.

She shook her head hard to clear it, and grinned up at him. "You know, if it wasn't classified as 'death-defying', I'd ask if we could do that agian!"

Matt found a laugh as he helped the girl from the plane's seat. "You're one of a kind, pretty-girl. One of a kind." He saw her wince at a pull on her shoulder, and made sure he lifted her at the waist with his tail to keep from straining her. "There you are, doll." It said something for her state of mind that she didn't protest the nickname. He set her down on a flat rock as he looked over the plane, the Auto Club arriving on the feild with two very worried gods following along. And a rather harried looking Mace on the other side of them. The rat met Matt's eyes, taking in everything at a glance, then he breathed easier and found a rock to sit on as well, getting ready to enjoy the show.

Gods were always great for drama, after all.

Husky and Foale were already helping Matt to look over his plane, which by some miracle only had some dents and gouges in the paint from debris. Throttle and Vinnie were already over by Charlene. And thus, the yelling commenced.

"What in the name of the Almighty were you thinking? ! _Were_ you thinking? ! You could have been killed! You both could have been killed!" the tan god shouted.

"Nothing happened! We're both fine!" she shouted back.

_**"Nothing happened? **_You crash-landed in a feild!" Throttle roared. "In a feild! You had no parachutes, no safety gear, and no real plan except 'hey, lets go fly a plane some guy built in his garage'!"

"He built it with me and I know what I'm doing! Matt's a good mechanic and it was perfectly safe"-

"You landed in a feild!" he pointed out. "It can't have been that safe if you landed off the fragging runway!"

"You honestly think I would have gotten in an airplane if I didn't think it was safe?" she shouted, indignantly. "How stupid do you think I am?"

"Very!" he roared. "Don't you understand? I can't protect you from those fragging stars and you go and do something like this? You could have been killed! There is no way I'm letting you go flying off like this again"-

Charley felt her eye twitch and decided to take matters into her own hands. She walked right up to Throttle, stepped a little bit to his side, the god giving her a questioning look and then-STOMP!

"YEEOOOWW!"

POW!

"Take that, you jerk!"

Charlene had taken her 120 pounds and with both feet, stomped on Throttle's tail as hard as she could. When he bent down to grab his tail, she countered with the sweetest upper-cut many a male had seen in years. Mice and Rats all over the feild winced in sympathy, even as Mace began to nearly cry in laughter. "Yes," he gasped, "oh yes, revenge is sweet! Oh Hells Below!" He laughed until he could do nothing more than shake in silent laughter before he caught his breath again, gasping out, "Go, little mortal girl! Tell him who's boss!"

Vincent was trying hard to not laugh. That lasted for almost twenty-two seconds before he fell to his knees, holding his sides and crying in laughter. Throttle was trying to straighten out the kinks her boots had put in his tail with one hand and gingerly checked his jaw with the other. Charley had put a bit too much strain on her ankle with that stomp and had to hobble over to an astonished Matt. "You know what, Matt, as soon as this baby is repaired, I would love to go flying again if you'll have me."

"Sure thing, pretty girl," he replied with a grin, proud of her for putting the fear of human girls into that jerk mouse. Matt saw the wetness starting to pool in her eyes and quickly offered her the chance to get clean up at his house. Charley accepted gratefully as he called for a tow truck to help take his plane home. The Auto Club members kept running interference between Throttle and Charley, not letting the god near her until Matt had already helped her into the tow truck's cab and they were heading back to his place. Vinnie shook his head at his bro's stubborness and helped Throttle track the two mortals. The Wish would not let them be apart for long, even if the System Force wasn't working right.

Mace sauntered back to the edge of the feild, a quick snap of his tail opening a portal into Demon-space. He needed to check in with his boss for this one. _'I can't protect you from those fragging stars_-' Throttle de Wryfryn had said. Hmm. Now why would a god have to personally protect one little mortal girl from three unlucky stars? The ramifications of that little tibit of info could be staggering. If what he suspected was right, that Davidson girl was about to be the hottest commodity in the UnderRealm. He vanished in a burst of darkness.

!#$%^&*()

Charley stumbled into the hallway of Matt's house, dirt, dust, and soot clinging to her skin, hair, and clothing. She very gingerly pulled off her leather boots and socks, respecting Matt's rule about no shoes in the house. The human glanced over at her first Martian friend. "You okay, Matt? I know that plane was your baby."

Matt sighed a bit as he pulled off his shoes. "I'm fine. Its my own damn fault for not putting enough gas in the tank. Besides, we can always rebuild her. I'm just glad we're both okay." He looked her over, noticing when she winced as she took off her light jacket. "Are you really okay?"

"Just a bruise or two, but I'm fine." She smiled at him. "You worry too much, Goldie."

He rolled his eyes as he took off his leather jacket. "When it comes to the Accident Queen, I don't think its possible to worry too much. I'm still shocked you've lived this long." The mouse helped her with her crutches so she could adjust them, and they went slowly down the grand staircase, Matt staying by her side to catch her if she fell. Right before she could protest that she was injured, not an invalid, the left crutch broke and nearly sent them both falling. Matt glared at the obvious peice of junk and swooped the girl into arms, picking up the wooden pieces with his tail and tossing them into the trash as he walked. Charley was too upset with her situation in general to really notice and just nuzzled under his jaw as he carried her to the large bathroom in his room.

He set her down on the edge of the deep tub, kneeling down to get a better look at her ankle. "Does it hurt much?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, not really. Nothing some tylenol can't fix."

He gently touched her shoulder and noticed when she flinched. "How about this?"

"Its not that bad," she answered, pulling off her shirt with a wince. She was so used to having to disrobe to get her injuries taken care of, (in emergency rooms and hospitals with first aid responders of both genders and multiple alien species), that she really didn't have much of a sense of modesty left.

Matt stared at the growing mark on her shoulder and upper arm. "I've said it once, I'll say it again. You have a ridiculous pain tolerance, and not in the good way. Charley, after we get cleaned up, we're going to ice that and your ankle, get some painkillers, and watch some movies; sound like a plan?"

The girl gave him a tired smile. "A man with a plan. Sounds sexy to me."

He grinned. "That would sound so much more inviting if you weren't hurting when you said it." His smile faded. "In more ways than one. Does he always yell at you like that? I'll whip his tail if he does, you know that, right?"

Charley blinked in surprise then shook her head. "Oh, no, Matt, its not like that. That's the first time he's ever talked to me like that. It"-she looked away, blinking back tears-"it just hurt, is all. But its no big deal. He was just upset at seeing me go down in a non-flying airplane."

Matt found a laugh. "Okay, when you put it like that, its justified. But if he ever gives you anymore flack about the company you keep, you just send him to me."

She gave him a look and a smile. "Goldie, believe me, if he gives me any flack, I'll take care of it myself. You can have whatever's left of him when I'm done."

The mouse shook his head with another laugh. "That's what I like about you, Charley-girl. You're tougher than anyone gives you credit for. So, time for a hot bath or a shower?"

"How about both? A quick shower to get all the dust off and then soak in a long hot bath," she suggested.

"Ooh, nice," he replied. He gave her another look of concern. "Will you need any help? Be honest," he admonished before she could protest. The girl found a small smile and said sheepishly, "Can you help me unwrap my ankle?"

"Sure," he said kindly, bending down and doing just that. A few seconds later, her still red, but clearly healing ankle was unbound. He pulled out some painkillers from the medicine cabinet and a cup of water from the sink as she started running the hot water for the shower. "Anything else?" he asked as she swallowed the pills.

She shook her head. "No, I'm good." Charley winced as now, with her body's aches taken care of, her mind could now start chewing on what ached in her heart. It was all just so confusing! Throttle had never taken that tone with her before, ever! He had talked down to her like she was some kind of little child! She knew that she was more accident prone now with the System Force down but-

A horrible thought suddenly came to her. Oh god. If her bad luck had caused this-

It could have killed Matt. Her bad luck, doubled up and surpressed like it had been for more than a month, finally getting loose to dump on her all at once, could have killed them both!

The stress was just too much, after the crash and the yelling and Throttle being so angry- Charlene turned her face away from Matt and felt the tears slip down her cheeks. Matt noticed her movement. "CD? You okay?"

"I'm f-fine. Really, Matt." She fought to get herself under control, but a sob escaped her. Matt immediately sat next to her on the tub and pulled her close, wrapping his tail around her legs and lifting her into his lap. "You're a terrible liar," he scolded softly. "The offer still stands. I'll beat the hell out of him, just say the word."

"No," she said, finally getting back under control. "Its fine, its just been-a really long day, Matt."

"Yeah, I guess having a hell of scare in a crashing plane will stress you out," he replied, guilt lacing his voice.

"It wasnt' your fault, Goldie."

"No, no, I'm pretty sure that forgetting to check the gas gauge was my fault," he said awkwardly.

She turned in his arms. "Matt, no its"-she couldn't speak. She tried again, anything to reassure her friend that the crash hadn't been his fault, but nothing would come out. Her throat began to scratch and cough, and with a start she realized that the special access clause of the Wish was still in effect. She couldn't tell Matt anything.

Oh dammit all to hell.

Matt saw her coughing and helped her sit up at a better angle. "Feel better now?"

"Y-yes," she answered, getting settled at the new angle and wrapping her arms around his waist. She found a chuckle. "My apologies, Goldie, but I think my luck might be rubbing off on you."

He stared at her a second, and then started to laugh. "Oh gods above, nooo! Help! Help! The evil unlucky girl looked at me, help!"

"Smartass," she muttered, playfully swiping at his arm. She snuggled in against him, reveling in the warmth he offered. "You know my offer still stands," she said with a smile. "If you ever decide on a girlfriend, I'll dump whoever I'm with and give it a go with you."

He laughed. "I'll let you know about that. But I'm pretty happy with what I have now."

"When do I get to meet him?" his friend asked.

Matt blinked, then nodded, not surprised that she knew that he was involved with another male even though he hadn't told her anything. She had always been scary-sensitive about that sort of thing, with everyone she knew. "Hopefully, soon. I told him about you when we first met. He knows about how we are."

"And he doesn't mind?"

"Not at all," he said, leaning in and kissing her cheek. "In fact, he asked me to ask you if you would ever be interested in a threeway"-

"No thank you," she said quickly, the blush going nuclear red.

Matt laughed, "I told him that's what you'd say! Come by the bar tomorrow night. I'll have him come by so you two can properly meet. I want my two favorite people to be friends." He helped her stand and then headed out to get cleaned up. "After this, meet me in the living room, okay? I've got Metropolis," he sang.

Charlene lit up like it was Christmas come early at hearing that he had the classic black and white movie. "Really? I've been looking everywhere for that, where did you find it?"

The tan and gold mouse laughed again. "That's a secret. Now go wash! "

Charley blushed badly as her body protested her movement, her ankle threatening to send her to the groud if she tried to put pressure on it again. "I-I don't suppose you could help me get cleaned up?"

Matt smiled gently, more than familiar with helping his friend when she was injured like this. "Sure thing, pretty girl."

An hour later, as the two friends were curled up around each other on the couch as the movie played, Matt heard the soft ping of one of his home's proximity alarms go off. He told Charley it was nothing and to enjoy the movie as he headed up the stairs to answer the door. He had no doubt at all who was coming, and he was more than ready to give the mouse a peice of his mind. He took the elevator up to the long hallway that led to the outer door of his home. The young male opened the door with a punch of the keys on the electronic pad, the thick metal door sliding to the side, and he glared at the red-eyed male in front of him. "You have a lot of nerve to come here after how you acted."

It had take two hours to find this place, styming both Vincent and Throttle as to how a mortal's home was so well-hidden. Vincent blamed it on interference from Earth's notorious ley line activiity, despite them being on Mars. Throttle suspected it was the Wish's response to how Charley was feeling right then, and had immediatley gone racing to the only coordinates the spell could find. It had led him to a small building out in the desert, making him glance around in confusion before he managed to pick up the faint electricity coming from under the ground. His bike's scanners showed a large energy reading and a large complex directly under his feet. He realized that this Matt Bond had built his entire home underground, with only this small building to lead down to the main levels.

Now that he was here, Throttle's fists clenched as he fought down the jealous urge to punch those pretty-boy looks right off the other male's face as he faced the mortal, but his voice kept calm as he spoke. "My apologies for coming to your home uninvited, but I want to make this up to her. I was out of line, I know that, and I intend to apologize to her when I see her. But I want to talk to you first."

"Oh?" Matt leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms and looking over the god with a jaded eye. "What about?"

Throttle's entire body tensed and he fought to keep his voice level. "What are your intentions with Charlene?"

Matt cocked an eyebrow. "I think I should be the one asking that question."

"You have been friends for a long time, she's told me, but I think there is more to it than that," the god said.

Matt blinked in surprise. "What? No. Not for a long time now. We're friends and nothing more."

Throttle couldn't hold back his snarl as a scent hit his sensitive nose, his human's sweet scent faintly coming from Matt's fur. "That's not what your scent tells me."

The mouse rolled his eyes. "Oh for sand's sake, we take care of each other and this is the conclusion you come to? How about thinking about this?" He leaned in and said in a low growl, "I'm not the one that had her in tears, asshole. I'm not the one that made her breakdown and cry about what I thought about her. I'm not the one that she talked about for the last 45 minutes while she was sitting with another man. She thought about you, talked about you, and asked me my honest opinion about you. Which, for the record, is that you are an arrogant jerk that has no idea how to treat a woman," he snapped. "And by the way, if you ever talk to her like that again, I'll choke you to death with your own tail, do you understand me?"

Throttle blinked in surprise and nodded, hanging his head in shame at Matt's words. "I do want to apologize to her for that."

"You better," Matt huffed. "Oh, and so this doesnt' come up again, I already have a boyfriend, and yes, she knows about him. Do you have a problem with any of that?"

Throttle found a small smile, hoping to diffuse the hostility he could feel from the mortal. "No. Did she tell you that when she and I first met, I thought she was a boy?"

Matt couldnt' help but laugh, "You and everyone else on Mars! When you look at her al done up like that, it makes sense, but when you know the truth, you look at her and think, 'how the hell did I not see it'?"

"That's it exactly!" Throttle said, the tone of their conversation starting to head to more friendly ground. Praise the Almighty for that. He did not want to make enemies of Charlene's friends, and now that he knew Matt didn't want Charley in that way-

He stopped himself. _What are you thinking? What are you doing? You charged over here like a jealous husband-oh no. Please no. _Throttle was cursed with honesty, something that even applied with his own thoughts. He could have smacked himself at the realization. _I'm jealous. Fragging Hells, I'm actually jealous. Shit! This can't be happening! I can't have feelings for Charley like that! I can't! She's mortal! She_-he could barely think the words without wincing_-she will die. In less than a century. While I live for millenia more, without her. I can't have feelings for her. I can't._

He'd seen what grief had done to Vincent.

He wrenched his attention back to Matt, who was cautiously asking where the two of them lived now. "A temple? Seriously? In Rassilion Hills? Damn," the mortal said thoughtfully. "Well, at least you'll both be comfortable there, it is a pretty ritzy neighborhood. What did Charley say when you took her there?"

Throttle smiled. "She laughed outright and said I was crazy to think we'd get to live there. But it all worked out alright in the end."

"Okay then," Matt nodded, making a mental note to visit them as soon as possible to be sure things were really alright. A soft ping from his pocket made him pull out his cell phone, flipping it open to answer Charley's call.

"Matt? Is everything okay out there?' Charley's voice asked from the digital speaker.

"Yeah its cool, babe, just a false alarm. I'll be back in a minute," he replied. He looked back at Throttle. "Are you going to make trouble if she spends the night? She's still pretty upset with you."

Throttle could feel the Wish's powers already pulling at him, and knew he couldn't deny it much longer. he had to have some contact with her, or something drastic might happen. "May I speak with her, please? I really do want to apologize to her before I go.

Matt grudgingly nodded. "Give me a minute and I'll bring her out here. Oh," he looked a bit sheepish, "do you have any spare crutches for her ankle? The set I keep for her here broke on the stairs."

Throttle almost looked incredulous, but then shook his head in resignation. "I've got a pair with my bike," he said.

Matt suddenly laughed. "Yes, you're friends with Charlene Davidson if you start packing extra crutches for her wherever you go!" he chuckled. "That poor girl and her rotten luck. Alright, we'll be back in a minute."

Throttle nodded, glad that things were starting to look up.

* * *

Or are they? Mwahahaha! Please Review!


	12. Chapter 12

Hey guys! Thanks so much for all your patience waiting on me. You guys are so awesome!

To my Co-Author, Kashito91. Matt, you're amazing! He's responsible for inspiration and does it incredibly well. Half this entire chapter is all him. Everyone, please go check out his stories, especially 'Welcome to the Machine' for a look at Throttle's dreams, 'The Wall' for a trippy AU willd ride, and 'A Bloody Requiem' for a peice that makes Vinnie deeper than the ocean. The last one is in the M section, and totally amazing! His best work, IMHO.

Now, on with the story! My longest chapter ever, wow...

Chapter 12

Charley sighed as she walked with Throttle through the parking lot on the way to his bike. A long day of classes and homework had come to an end and she was eager to get home with how Throttle was acting. It wasn't noticiable to anyone that didn't know him, but she'd been around him just long enough to tell. He was tense. Very tense. Something had him on edge, and she could venture a guess as to what it was.

The god and her best friend Matt had been walking on eggshells around each other, both of them coolly polite to the other in an effort to prevent hostilities. She had hoped that the two men she cared for most on Mars would be able to get along. Unfortunately, they seemed to be on the verge of arguing everytime she saw them together, which wasn't often, praise the Almightly.

If it got any worse, she would knot their tails together to force them to talk it out. Well, if the fight wasn't over her, she would. But if it was about her, she would have to...'talk' to them about it. With a ball-pin hammer in her hand.

Matt had invited her to see the band play at The Thorny Ball, a bar for students off campus, later that night. She was really looking forward to seeing them play again, and the girl was hoping to have Vinnie and Throttle there with her. If they could behave. It would be good for both gods to get a better idea of modern culture, whether Martian or Terran. She glanced around to see if Vincent Van Wham had arrived to meet them as he'd said he would, and frowned. "Hey, Throttle? Where's Vinnie? Wasn't he supposed to meet us here?"

Throttle frowned, sending out a small pulse of god-aura to act as a radar to track Vincent. "I'm not sure where he is. I had asked him to look over the temple's wards earlier, but surely he'd be done by now. I'm picking up a few privacy wards on different areas of the campus. I can't tell if he's hiding there, or if he's just hiding some of his pet projects from me by keeping them here instead of the temple. Either way, I'm sure he'll be fine."

Back at the temple...

Vincent Van Wham wasn't just a god of theives and scouts. He was the the original Martian god of mischief. This didn't exactly bode well for Throttle and Charley. Hell, it didn't bode that well for anyone on Mars. Escecially considering what he was up to now...

The temple was almost gleaming as the sun shone down upon it. Abbot Meridian was busy shopping for groceries, leaving the newest resident god alone to wander the grounds. Vincent was checking Throttle's wards, as his friend had asked. He had barely had to place any repairs at all. The young god was impressed by what he found. With barely a handful of power left, Throttle has managed to create self-energizing wards, some of which could draw power from the dormant leylines of the planet itself when they were strong enough.

With a quick glance around to be sure he was really alone, (and that no scrying stones were activated from the Heavens to catch him in the act), Vincent headed into the temple's lower levels. The base level of the holy grounds would be saturated in holy magics and energies, and would be perfect for what Vinnie had in mind. He found the temple's foundation stones and immediately cast his own wards and protection on them to hide his actions. With a quickly cast spell, he invoked an old spying charm that would force the magics of the temple to act as a display, replaying everything that had ever happened in the temple's history. But he only wanted the past two months, the amount of time that Throttle and Charley had been living here.

Vincent watched in horror and disbelief as the images went by. This was positively disgraceful! Two good looking people living together with enough sexual tension to start fires, and they hadn't shagged each other once! What in the blue heavens was wrong with this picture? He shook his head in exasperation. His older bro needed to get laid. He suspected that Charley needed to get laid too. Throttle liked Charley, Charley liked Throttle, this was perfect! A smirk formed on his face as a plan popped into his head. The god of mischief was about to play matchmaker, Van Wham style.

An hour later, Charley and Throttle had arrived back home. Throttle frowned as he felt Vincent's prescense. "He was here the whole time?"

"Do you think he just forgot to meet us?" Charley asked as she hung her bookbag up on the coat rack.

"Possibly, but its more likely that he's up to something. We won't know until something happens though," Throttle shrugged. "I'm going to the meditation hall. Will you need me for anything?"

Charely smiled at him. "No, that's alright. But thank you for the offer."

He faintly blushed. "Ah, well-I'd better get started then." The tan god headed towards the hall.

Charley kept her little smile as she headed to her room to start on the few pages of homework she had to finish. She reached the door of her room when Vincent suddenly popped out of the wall. "Hey, Charley-girl!"

She nearly jumped a mile in surprise. "Ahh! Vincent! Don't do that," she said with a gasp. "You almost scared me to death."

Vinnie chuckled in amusement. "Heheh, sorry. You mortals are so jumpy about this sort of thing." He then got a concerned look, "Hey, can we talk in private? Its about Throttle."

"Throttle?" she asked in surprise. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Lets step into your room, more privacy that way. I don't want him to know that I've noticed," Vinnie said, his tone the perfect blend of worry and friendly concern. They went inside her room, and with a casual flick of his wrist, the god cast a privacy ward. The ward would make sure that no one, mortal, god, or demon would be able to hear them. "Now we won't be overheard. Throttle's a proud kind of guy; he wouldn't want us to be talking about him like this."

"Then should we be talking about him like this?" Charley asked, bemused at all the secrecy.

"No guy wants it going around that he's getting weaker, Charley-girl," Vincent said, immediately catching her attention. "Look when you and Throttle first met, did he mention anything about him loosing his powers?"

Charley nodded. "Yeah, he said that all he could do was channel the Almighty's power, and that he didn't have a lot of energy on his own. Being with me cut him out of that."

Vinnie nodded, "And that's true. But with the System Force still down, its really putting a lot of stress on the reserves he still has left. If Throttle has to rely too much on his own internal powers, he can go into power drain-shock."

"Power drain shock?" Charley asked in concern. "What's that?"

"When gods use too much engery and are close to being completely drained, their bodies will go into a fail-safe mode, like a state of shock in mortals," Vinnie explained. "It'll freeze their powers to prevent them from draining their own life force away. If Throttle has to go on his own power much longer, with no real source to draw from, he'll go into shock. I'd have to take him back to the Heavens to restore him to health. And that would cause even more problems with the System Force."

"More problems, but why?" Charley asked, sitting on the bed as her worry grew.

Vincent looked at her like she was short a few IQ points. "What exactly was your Wish again?"

"To be with him always," she said, a slight edge to her voice.

"The System Force might not be working right, but somepart of it _is_ still working. It would try to enforce your Wish to always be with him. And you're mortal, remember?" he said in exasperation. "You can't go with him to the Heavens, no mortal can step foot in the Heavenly Realm of the Gods. But the System Force, broke as it is, would try to force the Laws of Heaven to let you in to keep with the Wish, causing massive upheaval and chaos."

"Oh no," she breathed in horror. "Isn't there anything we can do to help Throttle without having to send him back to the Heavens?"

"Well, there is one thing I can think of," Vincent said with a frown on his face. Inwardly, he was cackling with glee. This human girl was buying this entire thing completley, hook, line, and sinker! But to make sure she went along with his scheme, the god was lacing his voice with a spell of command. It was mind control in its most subtle form, giving the recipient an order they couldnt' refuse. But to Vincent's mind, it wasn't really mind control. After all, Charlene wanted to help Throttle any way she could. The spell of command could easily manipulate her with that desire to work with.

He went on to explain. "I think the problem is that your genetic information hasn't been properly uploaded into the System. I mean, it was expecting a Martian to make the Wish, being on Mars where the Wish took place and all. So more than likely, the System doesn't recognize your genetic code, causing errors in the Wish protocol."

"So how can I fix it?" she asked, her voice slowly growing more monotone as the spell began to work over her.

"Well," he leaned over her, bracing himself with one hand on the wall next to her bed, "you have two options here. Either you can sleep with me, or sleep with Throttle."

That was almost enough to knock her out of the spell's thrall completely. "What?"

"Sleep with me, or sleep with Throttle," Vinnie repeated, pouring power into the vocal spell of command to make her obey. "We're gods; direct conduits of energy and data to the System Force, i.e. The Almightly. Having sex with either one of us will expose us to your unique DNA, thus uploading your genetic information directly into the System without any errors. The System Force gets repaired, Throttle gets his power supply back, and everybody's happy." Vincent was incredibly proud that he didn't manage to sound lecherous once during that entire schpeil.

Charlene was in a quandry. She didn't want to cause problems for Throttle, (any more than her Wish already had, at least), but she certainly didn't want to sleep with Vinnie. It would have to be with Throttle-wait, hold up. How did she even know that this was true? Vincent was a god of tricksters. How did she know this wasn't some kind of set-up? Then she remembered. Throttle told me that gods can't lie. Merciful Almighty, Vincent can't lie to me! He's telling the truth!

Unbeknownst to Charlene, Throttle hadn't been quite correct in his statement. Its not that gods can't lie, as in 'not able to', but can't lie as in 'really not supposed to, or face dire consequences!' Throttle had simply chosen to veiw that particular rule for gods to mean that he should never lie.

Vincent, however, could decieve with the best of the demons and didn't care about consequences right then. "So what will it be?"

"I...I want to sleep with Throttle," Charley said, her voice distant and dreamy as the spell took a firm grip on her mind.

"Good girl," Vinnie said with an amused chuckle. "But doll, you're never going to seduce him in that get-up. Lets see what else you have..."

In the Meditation Hall...

Throttle sat with his legs folded under him as he meditated on the woven reed mats of the room. Polished wood floors gleamed under the soft candle light, the windows covered to help in concentrations by preventing distraction. The god hummed softly in the famous 'Om' of Earth's Hindu meditation style, his body finally relaxed after the stress of the day. His ear suddenly twitched as he felt the familiar tang of Vincent's spellwork and magics through the air of the temple grounds. For some reason, the white-furred god had cast a spell that required constant energy output from the caster to maintain its function. Throttle arced an eyebrow. And this spell in particular was needing more and more energy every few minutes to maintain solvency. Just what had that punk done now?

The aura of the spell was getting closer. He opened his eyes and his tail lifted up his shades from the ground to slide on his muzzle. The door opened-

And if he hadn't been sitting, Throttle might have hit the ground in shock. His higher brain functions crashed to a halt and he felt his jaw drop. Charlene stood in the doorway, the light of the candles painting a soft warm glow on her skin. All of her skin. She was naked as the day she was born, her soft curves exposed to his sight as she began to walk towards him. An oddly stilted, almost jerky walk, but the look on her face was positively eager. What was going on here?

Something was nagging at the edges of his senses, something important, but before he could even think to concentrate on what was wrong, she drove all thought from his head with one single sentance. "Please Throttle," she said as she knelt down in front him, "will you sleep with me?"

Throttle would have sworn that his brains were leaking out of his ears by this point. "Ch-Charley? What - what are you - why are you - what is going on - gak!" He froze as two soft hands reached for one of his arms, guiding his hand to her body. "Does my body not please you?" she asked, her voice low and aching in disappointment. "Am I not pretty enough?"

"YES! Wait, no! I mean, Charley you" - He shook his head hard, pulling his hand back like he was burned. "Charley, what's going on? Why are you acting like thi-is!" She had moved and was now sitting with her legs on either side of his hips, pulled herself in close, and was leaning against him with her breasts pressed against his chest. Her voice was vague and distant as she spoke, "Please Throttle, I want to sleep with you."

Throttle swallowed hard as his tail lifted her up out of his lap, the god scrambling to his feet as she dangled in front of him. He slapped a hand over his eyes to try and focus on something other than the naked girl in front of him. "Charley, this isnt' like you! What in the Heavens has gotten into you" - he froze. That nagging feeling was back, this time almost screaming at his senses, and with effort he focused his attention on that feeling. His sight shifted so that he could see the god aura of everything in the temple, and suddenly he could see the swirling rings of energy and power surrounding the mortal. Dark red lined with orange, the colors of control and confusion, swirled over her face and head, and a lower belt of purple and deep red, the colors of desire and aggression, was around her hips. His eyes turned red in anger at the sight. The patterns of the rings were the markings of mind control and laced with a strong bio-compulsion to force her body into creating the chemicals in her brain that would stimulate arousal and high levels of deisre.

She slumped as he sent her into a dreamless state of sleep, and the god gently set her on the floor, covering her with his black leather vest. He immediately moved to cancel the other spells on her, but stopped as he watched the magics on her body. They were...being absorbed? What? Why were they fading away like that? Surely her body wasn't absorbing the godly magics that were controlling her. Mortals couldn't do that. But as more and more of the power was sucked away, he had to conclude that as impossible as it was, Charlene was absorbing the engery into her own system. He would worry about that later, for now, he had bigger fish to fry. "VINCENT VAN WHAM! Get your sorry tail out here now!"

Outside, thick grey clouds began to form over the temple grounds.

The spell completely dissolved away a few seconds later without any help from Throttle, the energies that fed it finally cut off. A voice from the room's rafters spoke out, "Cheeze, that girl was fighting my spell harder than any mortal I've ever seen. Harder than some gods, even. You should be proud of her," Vincent said as he hopped down to the floor.

Throttle growled low, his god-aura already flaring to life in sparks of power in his fur. "Vincent, you ass; why in the Hells did you do that to Charley?" Throttle growled. Rain began to fall outside, quickly forming into a drenching pour of water over the temple as the clouds roiled furiously.

"Oh like you didn't like what you saw. Come on, bro, live a little!" Vinnie cajoled. " Lighten up, bro, she'll be fine. Besides, you need to get you some, and bad. This just was supposed to speed up your chances with her. There's enough sexual tension between you two, you could reach out and slap it. I was trying to do you both a favor!"

The energy blade formed over Throttle's fingerless glove, electricity crackling in his fur as he drew on the small reserve of power the temple had already stocked for him. "I don't think you understand," the tan mouse said angrily. "You subverted the will of an innocent girl. You made her walk around naked and come on to me, and this was somehow supposed to be a favor to her? Vincent, if I had any intention of being involved with her, I'd take my TIME!" Throttle charged at the white mouse, his sword slicing down in a deadly arc.

With a flash of power, Vincent Van Wham manifested his own weapons of choice. The white god held a long trench knife in each hand, both blades black as night and spitting red energy sparks as he blocked Throttle's blade. "You're really mad about this, aren't you? Aw, are you mad I saw her naked first?" Vincent asked, a smirk on his face. He slashed out with one knife, striking out with the other as Throttle blocked.

Throttle's gloved hand met the other trench blade, the glove shifting into a metal gauntlet. "You had to cast a level 6 mind compulsion spell to 'see her naked'. You're going to pay for doing that to her!" he growled, then struck out again, forcing Vincent to use both knives to block the downward blow. The tan god was forced back as Vincent's blades began to glow with energy, the extra god-aura surrounding them giving Vincent's knives a longer reach and power. Throttle blocked again and kicked Vinnie in the chest hard enough to force the white mouse through the wall of the meditation hall and out into the rain.

Vincent shook his head to clear it as he got up from the furrow in the earth he'd made when he'd slammed into the ground. "You think you're hot stuff, huh? Well I think you're forgetting a little something, bro." Suddenly, power sparked out all over Vincent's fur. Red energy cracked around him, arcing out and striking the ground, leaving scorch marks. The stones of the courtyard cracked and split under the sheer force of the godly aura pouring off of Vincent Van Wham. He gave a wicked grin at his friend. "Right now, you're completely without any of your own magic or aura. You might out rank me," twin balls of energy formed at the tips of Vincent's trench knives, "but I've got way more power."

The storm began to build as the two gods fought. Rain turned to sleet and hail as Vincent was forced back by Throttle's attacks. Lighting began to flash as Vincent called down his Wham Bolts, concentrated forms of lightning that could punch through solid stone. Throttle was forced to dodge as the spells shot at him over and over. Without his powers, the tan god couldn't sheild himself or heal from any blasts he might take, and dodging at god-speed was rapidly draining his energy reserves. The courtyard was smoking from the blasts and the fountain was reduced to rubble as the gods raged over the temple.

The sky began to churn as the clouds turned from grey and purple to deep black. Slowly, the clouds began to spin, a vortex forming over the temple. A tornado was beginning to form.

Throttle managed to use his last energy to teleport behind Vincent, and the god kicked his back hard, the force slamming Vincent through the meditation hall's roof and down into the floor. He laced the blow with the last magics he had, a shock spell that he prayed would be enought to knock the younger god unconscious. The crash woke Charley from the stasis spell that had been slowly draining into her system. The human shivered in the cool air, looked down, and gasped in shock. "Why the hell am I wearing Throttle's vest? What happened? The last thing I remember is"-she looked out at the hall and her voice died. She stared in horror at the sight of the hall in ruins, energy fires burning holes in the walls, debris and rubble everywhere. "What is going on?" she cried. "Throttle? Vinnie?"

A sudden rumble from the floor made her scramble for the altar as Vincent rose up from the rubble. "Heh. You're acting like that was supposed to hurt." There was a sudden soft sound, a chink' of metal hitting dirt. Throttle's eyes went huge as he saw the mask on Vincent's face slip off.

Vinnie blinked in shock, then horror. "Wha...what have you done?" A shaking hand reached up to clutch at the side of his face, where brilliant red runes were beginning to glow. "Throttle you, you stupid bastard, what have you done? The seal is-" Red light burst out of the marks, like lasers between the god's fingers-"breaking!"

The earth tore from the ground up around Vincent, godly and demonic aura swirling and merging. Charley flinched as the dark aura mixed with Vinnie's power. "What is going on?"

Throttle cringed as more and more power built up. "His demon powers are overwhelming him! Get out of here! Run for the main hall and hide!"

Vincent's voice lowered as power builds up in his system. "I hope you know your seals, bro, this...is going to get-" the demonic aura overwhelmed his mind, and a wicked smirk grew on his face as his hand fell away, nothing but a sick black void where the mask had been- -"nasty."

Throttle immediately moved to protect Charley, his sword raised to defend. Vincent just smirked. "A knight in shining armor? That's cute, bro." The half demon struck out with a trench knife, stabbing at Throttle with the other before kicking him hard in the chest. Throttle was blown into the room's statue, rubble crashing down around him from the roof. Vinnie just smiled darkly. "I had best make the most of my 'free time', right?" He casually walked over to where Throttle lay, and summoned a Wham Ball in each hand. They were ball lighting spinning in a deadly sphere. "Aw, don't crash out on me now! I know, we'll play catch!" He threws it hard at the tan god, more spells summoned with each throw, raining down like a hail of bullets.

"Vinnie, no!" Charley screamed, helpless to do anything but watch as the gods went to war. "Vinnie?" Charley's voice wavered a bit as she pulled the black leather vest tighter around her body. "What is going on? Why are you and Throttle fighting?"

The cyclone in the sky condensed into a spear of black clouds and lightning.

Vincent shook his head as an energy ball began to form in his hand. "Because Throttle just can't take a joke," he said with a shrug, readying his arm to throw the attack.

Throttle barely dodged the first spell, starting to slow with every step he took. He was almost completely out of energy, the temple drained dry of any magic to draw on. With a glance to the raging sky, he sent up a Prayer. Vincent lifted up one hand, crooked his fingers in a 'come here' motion, and a giant bolt of red lighting shot down from the sky! It shot down through the roof, crushing Throttle into the floor. "Now I know that hurt," Vincent said with a smirk. A soft groan was the only sound the tan god made as he tried to get up. Vincent looked down at him with a curious sort of glee. "Its so much fun to let my own little demon out. How do you like playing with Demon Vinnie?"

Throttle look up to the storm that was swirling above them through the roof, then glared up at Vincent. "I think Demon Vinnie is a bastard, just like his father."

Vincent's eyes glowed blood red, his dark aura exploding out. Stone crushed under the massive increase in demonic aura, and his voice sunk to hellish levels as he spat, "How dare you! You have no right to speak of such things!"

Throttle suddenly felt the atmosphere shift, energy pouring and forming in the twisting clouds. His glare suddenly changed to a look of sympathy. "I know, bro. Forgive me."

Vincent blinked in surprise at the sudden switch. "Wha-"

The cyclone spat a bolt of black lightning down at the temple through the hole in the roof. Charlene screamed, ducking for cover. It struck Vincent in a dead hit, driving the young god into the dirt below the floor boards, smoking and unconscious. Silver refomed over the glowing red runes, spreading over and up the right side of his face. The mask fully reformed. When the dust cleared, and the rain had doused the energy fires, Charley slowly came out from under the altar. "Throttle?" she called. "Vincent?"

A low groan sounded as Throttle slowly pulled himself up from the ground. That mouse has no idea what overkill is, the tan god muttered, staggering slightly. Charley hurried to his side, supporting the dazed mouse as he went over to where Vincent landed. The white mouse was completely knocked out and steaming with all the energy being burned off him.

"Are you alright?" she asked in concern.

"I'm fine," he murmured, blearily rubbing his eyes. "Nothing a good night's sleep won't fix with the wards charging me." At her look, he amended, "Well, maybe a good week's worth of sleep."

"I'm glad you're okay. Ah, listen, I know I don't know how you guys normally are, or if fighting like this is how you usually act, but don't you think that was a little out of hand?" Charley asked. "Whatever you two were fighting about, surely it wasn't worth all this."

Throttle gave her a look-over, blushing and averting his eyes at seeing how much skin his vest did not cover on her. "Oh, believe me, he deserved it. Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No, I'm okay, but where are my clothes? Why am I in your vest?" she asked in bewilderment.

It appeared that she didn't remember a thing. That was probably for the best. Throttle blushed again at the memory of what Vincent had done, but decided that he would let the younger god face the human woman's wrath on his own. "I think Vinnie can explain it better than I can."

She looked over at Vincent, and the mask that had reformed on his face. "What happened to him? It was like he was a totally different person."

Throttle winced. "In a way, he was. Vinnie is half demon. The mask sealed away all his demonic powers. Vinnie, he's...he's gotten a lot of flack almost his entire life about being half demon. When he was born, it was a huge scandal. His mother, she wasn't - more like she didn't want anything to do with him, espceially once his demonic powers showed up. The Almighty had to seal his demon half away to protect everyone from it, including Vinnie. That's what the mask is for. A lot of the healers think he's been shoving any anger or hate into the mask, and that it might be making another personality" - Throttle paused. "Wait. What's that?"

"What's what?"

He pointed to the floor boards beside Vincent. "That." A series of runes were glowing on the floor beside him.

"Can you read it?" she asked.

"Of course. That's written in the god-tongue, Yggdrasil. Its orders from the Almighty." Throttle translated the words for her. " _'By the Will of the Almighty, it has been found that Vincent Van Wham, god class 1, type 2 limited, has been found guilty of the crime of obstructing the System Force and causing a complete System failure for personal gain, as well as using a Level 6 control spell on another god's, Throttle de Wryfryen's, contracted mortal, Charlene Marie Davidson, and falsifying information regarding the System Force's data collection programs_.' Aw no, he lied on top of all this? Anyway, _'Thus, Vincent Van Wham is stripped of his godly powers and his demonic powers resealed, and banished to the mortal realm into the custody and servitude of the offended god, Throttle de Wryfryn, for the duration of the offended god's mortal's, Charlene Marie Davidson's, lifespan'..._oh...no."

Charley stared at the runes. "Does that mean what I think it does?"

Throtte gaped in horror. "C-...cu-...custody? MY custody?..._**STOKER!**_ GET YOUR HOLY TAIL DOWN HERE **NOW**! _HE IS **NOT** STAYING **HERE**_!"

%^&*()*&^%

At a terminal in the Heavenly Realm, in the offices of those in charge of maintaining and repairing the System Force, a bewildered young god with a blond stripe in his brown headfur sat and stared at the mess of energies focused on Mars. He slowly shook his head, still staring in horror. "What in the Seven Veils of Heaven is going on down there? How did they even make this knot? Its going to take at least a week to get this fixed, longer if Vincent tries to interfere with the System Force again...which should happen any minute now." He sighed. "Only one thing to do."

Rimfire luc Molonave stood from the terminal, a determined look on his face. "If we can't get this sorted out here, then I'll just have to go to Mars and fix it there!"

* * *

Dun, dun, da dun! Let me know what you think!


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